


My Friend Missing-Nin

by Angel_of_the_Axis



Series: The Genin Era Collection [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Blood and Injury, Burns, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Everyone Has Issues, Gen, Genin Era, Good Uchiha Itachi, Haruno Sakura Has Issues, Hatake Kakashi Cares, Hatake Kakashi is a Good Teacher, Hatake Kakashi's Mask, Hot Springs & Onsen, Implied/Referenced Depression, Inner Dialogue, Inner Sakura Shenanigans, Kidnapping, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pervert Uzumaki Naruto, Pining, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Protective Haruno Sakura, Protective Uchiha Itachi, Protective Uchiha Sasuke, Sakura tries her best, Team 7 will never stop trying to see Kakashi's face lmao, Uchiha Itachi Has Issues, Unreliable Narrator, accidental meetings, he's just sensitive, implied/referenced eating disorder
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:14:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22240891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angel_of_the_Axis/pseuds/Angel_of_the_Axis
Summary: Their first meeting was an accident. The second, third, fourth, and so on? Purely coincidental. (Stories of the many encounters between genin Sakura and a slightly-concerned Itachi.)(Currently on hold.)
Relationships: Dai-nana-han | Team 7 & Haruno Sakura, Haruno Sakura & Uchiha Itachi
Series: The Genin Era Collection [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1600909
Comments: 12
Kudos: 180





	1. Accidentally Losing Your Team?

"Guys?" Sakura shouted, running through the forest on shaky limbs. "Naruto, this isn't funny! You can stop hiding now, the joke is over!"

How could she have lost them already? She'd only been in the bushes for three minutes!

Tears pricked her eyes as she slowed her pace, stumbling to the ground. She fell to her knees, the pebbles digging into her shins, and she began to cry.

"E-- even Sasuke-kun," she blubbered, hiding her face in her lap. "Even Sasuke-kun left me!"

 _"Why did Kakashi-sensei let them leave me like that?"_ She asked herself in despair. _"This is only our second mission out of the village! Is this some sort of test?"_

 _"Cha!"_ Inner Sakura yelled, shaking her fist as a comical tick mark appeared on her forehead. _"That stupid blond idiot probably convinced 'em to do it! Let's pummel him into next week when we find them!"_

Rustling in the bushes made her look up, the tears still running down her face.

After a few seconds of silence (only broken by her hiccupping breaths), she shook her head weakly.

"I'm such a crybaby loser," she mumbled, wiping her eyes with her arm. "No wonder Sasuke-kun hates me."

After the little crying spell, she felt just a little better.

She staggered to her feet, placing a palm on the ground to help her balance. When she was standing up straight she sniffled, grabbing a handkerchief from her pack. She wiped her nose before folding it and putting it back in its pouch. Looking around, she observed the quiet atmosphere of the forest. The birds were chirping faintly in the treetops, and the faint breeze rustled through the branches and blew gently at her hair. She didn't feel any chakra signatures nearby, yet she still felt the hairs on the back of her neck rising.

Something was watching, and to her unease, she couldn't figure out just where it was.

She swallowed hard. "Right... guess I've gotta go find them..."

Sakura brushed the dirt and pebbles from her legs and began walking again, this time with a clearer mind. The panic was still there, yet it was muted, her instincts to analyze taking over.

Honestly, she had to thank Kakashi-sensei when she found her team again -- had it not been for the mission to Wave three weeks ago, she honestly didn't think she would have sharpened her skills as much.

 _"Sasuke-kun..."_ she thought back to her crush with a flush of her cheeks. The mission had changed all of them -- perhaps for the better. Now he wasn't nearly as harsh to her as he used to be, but he was still stern. It didn't help Sakura's feelings that he always seemed to be chastising her for one thing or another.

 _"It was probably all his idea to leave me behind..."_ she sulked to herself, her shoulders slumping. _"Shannaro...!"_

Suddenly, her eyes widened. She dodged just in time to avoid a kunai whizzing past her face, slicing her cheek. She made a pained whine as she stared at the metal stuck in the tree in front of her.

She whirled around, only to meet a scarlet gaze. She was out like a light, her eyelids fluttering shut as someone stepped forward to catch her. A tall man with midnight tresses, his bangs framing his face in a familiar way, though his eyes were indifferent and strange.

"Sa... suke... kun..." she breathed, tears pricking her eyes as she went under.

* * *

When Sakura came to, the air was chilly and there was a warmth over her.

"... ugh..." she moaned softly, slowly opening her eyes. She stared up at a darkening sky, the oranges and reds blurring in her vision.

Just how long had she been unconscious for?

"... where am I...?" She muttered, blinking and trying to sit up.

As she looked around the modest campsite, she suddenly remembered. "Kakashi-sensei!"

She bolted from the navy-blue blanket she'd been carefully tucked into and reached for her weapons pouch. To her distress, she only felt the fabric of her biker shorts.

She cursed herself softly, the panic setting in again. _"My-- my pack is gone too... what the hell?! Who knocked me out?"_

 _"Whoever they are, they're in for a beating! CHA!"_ Inner Sakura roared, placing a hand on her flexed bicep.

As she stood there, she became confused as she looked down at her free wrists and ankles.

"Who would go through the trouble of kidnapping me... and just forget to tie me up?" She wondered aloud, her eyebrows dipping into a puzzled expression.

"You're awake," a new voice, a deep male one, startled her enough to make her jump.

She whirled around, eyes wide, mouth agape, at the tall man from before. His hair fell into a neat ponytail at the base of his neck, his bangs framing his face in much the same way that Sasuke's did. His eyes were the same color as his hair, though they guarded his emotions well. He was wearing a black cloak with red clouds, and as soon as she realized it, her blood ran cold.

"Y-- you-- you--" she stammered in terror, pointing at him and taking a shaky step back. "A-- Aka-- A-- A--"

He let out a near-invisible sigh, taking a seat near the crackling fire. "You must calm down, otherwise you may faint again."

Then it clicked. Why he reminded her of Sasuke. Why his eyes looked very much the same.

"Y-- you're Ita--" she choked, her knees knocking together. "I-- Itachi Uchiha--!"

He was quiet for a moment, his gaze turning to her. For the quickest second, his eyes flickered with something akin to amusement, before they were blank once more. He seemed to be considering for a moment. Finally, he nodded. "That is my name."

 _"Urrrrrrrrgh--!! I can't believe we managed to get ourselves kidnapped by Akatsuki! And by Sasuke-kun's older brother, no less!"_ Inner Sakura screeched, tugging harshly at her hair. _"If we get outta this, we need to make sure to tell Sasuke-kun that we love him!"_

Her face blanched. "A-- are you gonna kill me?" Her voice came out smaller than she intended, her entire body shrinking away from him.

Mutely, he shook his head and gestured to -- what Sakura now noticed -- the two fish roasting on sticks above the flames.

"If I wanted to kill you, I would have done so by now." Itachi reminded.

Slowly, her fear ebbed away until it was a spark of paranoia in the forefront of her mind. He seemed harmless enough, but she had to quickly remind herself that he was a wanted criminal -- a dangerous shinobi that could snap her neck in two seconds.

He was watching her with his lips pressed together, his face totally impassive. Honestly, it really looked the way Sasuke would whenever they had D-rank missions trying to round up cats. He always adopted that look whenever he was trying to coax the cat into letting him hold it long enough to get it back to the elderly lady that was missing it.

Somehow, this didn't register in her mind as him trying not to scare her.

The awkward silence was interrupted by her stomach imitating a whale. Her entire face turned beet red as her stomach growled loudly, and she quickly wrapped her arms around it.

Had it been any other time, he would've let himself chuckle a bit. The girl was quite adorable, even if she was no doubt contemplating the merits of bolting for the trees instead of staying and eating something. She probably had not eaten since breakfast.

... was she starving herself?

He gestured once more to the fish, imploring, "Sit and eat. We can discuss the reasons that I have... _acquired_ your presence, so to speak, afterward."

Let it be known that Uchiha Itachi was no stranger to speaking to young girls. But this one was too innocent, too naive, for the path that she'd chosen. She was still inexperienced. She was freshly green. He found it almost insulting to put her through the horrors of his Tsukiyomi at this stage in her shinobi lifetime.

It pained him just as much to terrify his precious _otouto_ by using it, and he was firm in his decision to spare her the nightmares for now. If he absolutely had to, someday down the line, to further pressure his otouto into finally killing him, then he concluded that he would have to.

Sheepishly, Sakura giggled, eyes darting to the ground. "I-- I'm sorry... I had to skip breakfast this morning, so my stomach's kinda killing me..."

His eyes widened a fraction. _"Is this young kunoichi trying to kill herself?"_

Vaguely, he recalled his own depression at one point in his life -- and more quietly, how it could be argued that he still suffered from it to some varying degree -- and he just as quickly forced it away, standing from his spot.

Sakura cowered away, misinterpreting his moves as threatening. She covered her torso, whimpering. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I-- I won't use that word!"

 _"What is she on about?"_ He thought in momentary confusion. Then he remembered, and his mood sobered. _"Ah. She thinks that the word 'kill' will anger me."_

Sakura Haruno, age twelve, approximately 4.8 feet tall, with some of the highest scores in her class. She was intelligent, intuitive, and her prowess with chakra control was begging to be tapped into. At least, that was the gist of the information he could gather before setting off from Konoha again. The only kunoichi on his younger brother's team, one with an undying crush on him.

It nearly made him smile bitterly. Izumi's face flickered through his mind's eye for a brief moment. Ah, the irony. It seemed that many of the genin teams nowadays held that dynamic.

He shook his head, taking a couple of strides towards her. With every step, she flinched further away, until she was nearly parallel to the ground as he towered over her.

Her stomach growled again and she whimpered, clutching it tighter.

He sighed once more. He reached out and firmly took hold of her left shoulder. "Sit and eat. I will not let you go until you do. It's best you get it over with, if you want to see your team again."

Her eyes snapped open, teary and big, and he was again painfully reminded of his family.

"Please, I'll-- I'll do anything you want," she finally cracked, clasping her hands together pleadingly. "J-- just please don't hurt me."

"As I have said before, if I intended to harm you, I would have done so already." His voice was surprisingly gentle as he steered her towards the fire. He sat her down near the blanket he'd tucked her into, and took a speared fish and handed it to her. He watched her take it with trembling hands, the girl hardly meeting his gaze.

He nodded and sat near her, taking his own fish. "Itadakimasu."

He heard her mumble a quiet "Itadakimasu" before they both bit in. Unfortunately, he couldn't always season his catches, and so the taste was rather bland, almost like plain-cooked poultry. He could see her eating silently, her face just slightly scrunched up, as if she was dying to ask for some salt or sauce. She didn't dare meet his eyes, however.

He chewed thoughtfully as he stared at the rocks around the fire. He had seen it in her eyes before, the way he had conjured up thoughts of his otouto in her mind. Somehow, he and her were linked in a way. He could sense her worry from here, even if she was trying to keep her emotions guarded. She was worried, she was scared, and yet he sensed a hint of puzzlement in her eyes.

He fought the urge to sigh out loud. For one so studied and diligent, she was awfully good at breaking the rules of the unforgiving shinobi world. He was almost tempted to let her go right away, but he found no harm in keeping company for just a little longer. At the very least, he could probably soothe some of her fears by staying. He could tell she was frightened of being alone. And with the night creeping upon them, he knew that her team was probably far ahead by now, and would be back for her in the morning.

He recalled how he'd felt once, after losing Sasuke (only age three at the time) in the market. He'd been nearly worried sick, calling and looking and begging the gods to return his precious baby brother. When he finally found the toddler a full hour later, napping peacefully in the arms of a passing woman with short blonde hair, the fear melted into elation -- and he could not stop thanking her as he gathered up his precious bundle and headed home.

Very briefly did he recall the little girl sleeping in the woman's other arm, her hand locked in Sasuke's. He remembered how cute he'd found it, before his eyes fell on Sasuke and thoughts of the girl faded. Now he knew this was the same girl, with the same petal-pink locks, just a lot longer now.

He finished his fish long after she had, the girl fidgeting with the stick and watching the fire with half-lidded eyes. She was still exhausted, as she should be after skipping two meals in a row. The urge to protect, to help this girl -- feelings that he'd sworn he'd buried the day he left his brother behind -- resurfaced in his aching heart, and he could hardly cup a hand to his mouth in time to cough.

Her head rose immediately upon hearing him hack, her brows drawn together in worry. Her lips were pursed, as if she wanted to speak up. Thankfully, she thought, she didn't need to, as the missing-nin slumped backwards against a stump, his eyelids fluttering slightly.

"A-- ano, Akatsuki-san," she spoke up timidly, rolling the stick between her slender fingers, "are you alright?"

She could not even bring herself to say his name. The fear that he'd taken careful work to instill in the hearts of the people of the Leaf was still strong as ever. Or rather, was it the fear of _him_ , specifically? He was rather infamous for his... ah, _final mission_ as a Konohagakure shinobi.

After a moment in which he looked back up, catching sight of the dark burgundy blood splattered across his palm in ribbons, his lips pressed together in distaste.

"I am fine, rest assured," he grunted, sitting back up and discreetly wiping the blood from his palm on his cloak. How endlessly irritating. "I assume you have many questions for me."

She blinked, not expecting him to say that. "Uh... yes, I do."

"Well, now is your chance." He wasn't usually this talkative, yet she somehow managed to pry the words from his throat. He stared at her, eyebrows slightly raised to spur her on.

"Um..." she fidgeted with the stick some more before looking up, boldly meeting him in the eyes for a grand two seconds before looking down at his right sleeve. "Why did you... why did you kidnap me?"

He let out a breath through his nose, the only amusement he would show. Why, indeed. The discomfort that had arisen watching her sob had been his only motivation at first, but then he... didn't really know the answer. He had just... done it.

When she sensed that he wasn't going to answer, she decided to try another. "How long are you going to keep me here?"

He blinked for a moment. Oh yes, he had mentioned not letting her go until she ate. "I assume your teacher will be looking for you in the morning," he explained. "As such, I don't find it fit to leave you alone until he comes."

She froze up for half a second before her body relaxed, nodding her head slowly. "Oh... yeah, I lost Kakashi-sensei..."

She froze up again. _"W-- wait, maybe I shouldn't have said that..."_

He watched as she went through several stages of thinking, trying to find something to say. It was almost endearing. It reminded him so much of his little brother, trying to find a solution to a puzzle or a word problem.

After several seconds, she slumped, defeated. _"Shannaro... I... I can't think of anything to say."_

Then another question popped into her mind, and she spoke without thinking, "You're not going to torture me to bring out Sasuke-kun, are you?"

Both of them grew still. The man's eyes widened a fraction, surprised, before he bowed his head and they were hidden by his bangs. His demeanor froze, and he remained silent for a few moments.

 _"SHIT!"_ Inner Sakura screeched, falling to the ground dramatically. _" WHY THE HELL DID YOU ASK THAT?!"_

 _"I-- I don't know why I thought about it!"_ Sakura thought frantically, swallowing against the lump in her throat as she rose her hands to cover her face. _"Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT! What do I do?!"_

 _"He's really gonna kill us for sure this time!"_ Inner was quick to add, waving a handkerchief with tears running down her face. _"Sayonara, Sasuke-kun! Sayonara, Kakashi-sensei! It was a dream come true being with you!"_

A bead of sweat trickled down her forehead. _"Uwaaaaa-- I swear if the gods get me out of this I'll be better to Ino-Pig! I promise I'll stop fighting with her as much!"_

Neither of them moved for a minute or two.

Finally, Itachi looked up again, straight at her. Thankfully, his eyes were still black -- but the stranger thing was that his expression looked almost pained.

Sakura stared right back at him, her face white as a sheet. "I-- I'm sorry It-- Akatsuki-san, I didn't mean to bring up--"

He opened his mouth to speak, but right at that second, she gasped and ducked as a kunai whistled past them.

Itachi seemed to have seen it coming, activating his eyes and narrowing them at the treeline. He stood from his spot, reaching towards her. "Stay seated. It appears your team has arrived."

"Ka-- Kakashi-sensei?" She looked up, eyes teary but hopeful.

Then she heard it. An unmistakable boyish voice, hollering from the trees. "SAKURA-CHAN! WE'RE COMING TO RESCUE YOU!"

She was faintly able to hear a slap and a hissed "Quiet, you idiot!" before she looked back to where Itachi was and stopped short and his lack of presence.

 _"Wh-- where'd he go?!"_ She thought, looking back and forth. _"It's like he just-- vanished!"_

 _"CHA! We live to see another day!"_ Inner was weeping tears of joy, hugging herself close. _"And we'll be able to see our dear Sasuke-kun once more! Boy if this doesn't make him confess now, I don't know what will!"_

Kakashi appeared, his hitai-ate revealing his Sharingan, looking down at her worriedly. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she breathed, the excitement suddenly sapping all of her energy. "I... I met someone..."

No sooner did she finish speaking did she fall backwards into Sasuke's waiting arms, his own Sharingan activated and searching the campsite rapidly.

The only remains of Uchiha Itachi's presence was the campfire, the two roasting sticks, and the blanket with the simple navy-blue fabric.


	2. Coincidence in a Hot Springs Resort

Two days had passed since the odd little encounter on the way to Yugakure, and Sakura often found herself wondering about Itachi.

Kakashi had been skeptical for the longest time about completing the mission, as he recognized immediately the way his old comrade had set up the campsite. Apparently, Uchiha Itachi was a man with few varying habits.

Naruto had been nigh-inconsolable, clinging to her as much as he dared and blubbering about how he 'let poor innocent Sakura-chan out of my sight for one second' before she was off getting kidnapped by rogue ninjas and whatnot. It was so endlessly annoying, yet she found that she just didn't have the heart to give him more than the occasional swat upside the head and a snapped, "I'm fine now, Naruto, see?"

And Sasuke was more wary than usual. Internally, she swooned at how he looked her over critically for any injuries before letting her rest her head on his shoulder for the night. Since Kakashi-sensei had brought them back to find her, he decided to keep the team there for the night and wake up extra early the next morning.

Not that Sakura was complaining. She would give anything to spend more time with Sasuke. Especially when he was acting so romantically aloof! She could practically see him allowing her to cuddle up to him under the blanket that Itachi had left her already!

Ah, yes. Her mood sobered immediately. _Itachi._

Thankfully, he didn't show his face again for the time it took for them to get to Yugakure. She honestly feared what Sasuke's reaction would be if they crossed paths once again. As much as she was still clueless about the whole deal with his family, she knew enough to understand that it meant disaster for the mission.

She was brought out of her thoughts by a hand on her shoulder. She looked over to see Sasuke with his trademark frown, although his eyes weren't as cold when they were looking at her. She was beginning to be able to read his innermost thoughts through his eyes -- which were unusually expressive when pointed at her. He seemed to be considering something, and she could tell that it was bothering him.

_"CHA!! Maybe he's finally going to confess his feelings!"_ Inner screamed, holding up a sign that said (Sasu + Saku = <3).

_"I wish,"_ Sakura thought to herself with a nervous smile to the boy. _"If he found out that we were making nice with his older brother he'd never speak to us again."_

Externally, she kept her emotions in check as much as she could and asked, "Yes?"

"Kakashi-sensei said you don't have to keep watch if you feel like you can't," he finally replied, eyes flickering towards the dying fire. "He brought some more fish too. Are you... still hungry?"

She blinked at him in surprise for a second. Sasuke generally wasn't the type of person to put another's wellbeing before his own. She remembered just how detached he'd been when they first became a team, a far cry from what he'd just asked. It was... oddly nice.

As if on cue, her stomach growled, and she blushed, giggling. "Eheheh... I guess another fish wouldn't hurt, would it?"

His frown momentarily deepened as he looked down at her stomach. His lips pressed together.

"Go get some and eat," he ordered, folding his arms across his chest and turning away. "You'll be no good if you're weak from hunger tomorrow."

_Aaaaaand_ there it was. Sakura managed to suppress a sigh, instead fondly curling her lips into a tiny smile. Classic Sasuke, disguising caring gestures with mean words. At least, she _hoped_ he was disguising it with mean words. This was still the same boy that constantly criticized her efforts in target practice and ninjutsu, after all.

And yet, she mulled it over as she moved from the blanket to grab a roasting stick from above the fire. The expression on his face just now reminded her painfully of the missing-nin from earlier. If she ever had any doubts that she'd actually encountered the infamous Uchiha Itachi, it was defenestrated with a simple glance at his younger brother's face.

_"They really are brothers,"_ she thought in disbelief.

She mumbled an "Itadakimasu" and began to eat. Thankfully, one of them had seasoned the fish with salt, as this one had much more flavor than the ones that he'd given her.

She hardly noticed Sasuke reach over her to grab one of his own and sit down in the same spot, until she noticed the blue fabric enter her field of vision. He glanced down at her for a second, as if to make sure she was really eating, before nodding and turning to go back.

She wanted badly to ask him to sit with her near the fire, because it was a chilly night, but she shoved the thought away and sat miserably eating her cooked fish. Sasuke naturally generated a ton of body heat anyway (probably from being Fire-Release?), so she knew he wouldn't be cold all the way over by the blanket.

With a tiny sigh, she looked up as she heard Naruto's boistrous voice coming closer to their modest camp. No doubt Kakashi-sensei had wanted to give the two some time alone, for whatever reason. As soon as he came into view, he smiled down at the two, patted Sakura's head, and deposited the extra bundle of fish in a basket near the fire.

Naruto immediately bounded over to Sakura, sitting close. "How're ya doing, Sakura-chan? Are you feeling better?"

She honestly thought about shooing him off for a good three seconds, before she looked into his hopeful expression. Naruto hadn't just been errantly crushing on her -- she could see that he was genuinely _worried_ for her wellbeing.

She paused in chewing, swallowed, and gave him a real smile. "Yes, I-- I am, Naruto. Thank you for coming back for me."

The blond blushed at her gratefulness, chuckling and crossing his arms behind his head. As annoying as he could be, she really didn't know what she would do without his infectuous optimism day in and day out.

"Oh believe me, we would've already been to the hot springs if it weren't for Sas-- _ACK_!" He was cut off by a roasting stick jabbed into the back of his neck. He ripped it out and rubbed the sore area, shooting Sasuke a dirty look and beating his fist in his open hand. "What was that for, teme? You wanna fight right now?!"

Sasuke managed to put on an innocent look for two seconds before glaring -- rather venomously -- at the boy. "Keep it down, would you? That person could still be lurking around here. You'll lead him right to us."

Sakura suppressed an amused giggle when Naruto began squawking in indignation. She just barely missed Sasuke's cheeks turning pink as he turned away from the two of them, glaring at the ground in embarrassment.

* * *

The group managed to wake up early enough to make it to Yugakure by early afternoon the next day. Naruto and Sakura were excited about visiting the village's famous hot springs, while Kakashi and Sasuke were keeping an eye out for their rendezvous.

"Remember, we need to give this scroll to its recipient before we relax," Kakashi-sensei reminded as he tapped his pack. "We're looking for one Hayashi Jun. She should be one of the residents in the hotel."

"And after that, hot springs?" Naruto asked hopefully.

Kakashi's eye crinkled, as if he were grinning under the mask, and he gave a single nod. "And after that, hot springs."

Naruto and Sakura almost squealed in excitement, clasping hands for a good five seconds before they both realized what they were doing. Sakura immediately let go with an embarrassed flush, and Naruto stared in surprise at his now-empty hands before practically chortling in joy that 'Sakura-chan just held my hand for five seconds, am I dreaming?'

Sasuke clucked his tongue dismissively at the two of them, firmly butting in, "Pay attention, you two. We aren't done with the mission yet."

Sakura wilted a bit under his sharp stare, but managed to keep a smile on her face and nodded. "Hai, Sasuke-kun."

_"Sigh... always so cold,"_ she sighed to herself as she stared at Kakashi's back.

Naruto grumbled distastefully at the Uchiha's back, mumbling something about kicking his ass if there weren't too many witnesses. His other three team members ignored this.

As they walked to the resort hotel they were supposed to be staying the night in, Sakura caught sight of a familiar-looking man standing near the fruit stand on the opposite side of the street. His chocolate-brown eyes caught hers, and he gave her a small nod before turning back to the vendor. She noticed short blond hair and she had to rack her brain for any kind of memory about him.

_"Where have I seen that guy before?"_ She wondered with a frown. _"Usually I'm really good with faces, but... I don't think I've ever seen his before."_

_"Maybe we have a stalker!"_ Inner was quick to reply, shuddering in her spot. _"How scary! Maybe Sasuke-kun will protect us."_

She tried not to think about it, but she probably looked a little too worried, as Kakashi-sensei took her aside once they had their rooms. "Sakura, are you alright? You look pale."

"I'm fine, Kakashi-sensei," she assured with a tiny smile. She fidgeted with the bottom hem of her quipao dress and added, "It's just nerves from last night, I think."

He seemed to frown, glancing towards the front door before looking back down at her. "If you feel unsafe at all during our stay here, come to the boys or me, okay?"

She was touched by his concern. Nodding, she smiled brighter. "Hai, I will. Thank you."

He got a fond look in his visible eye for a split-second before he patted her head and handed her her key. "You're in room 210, and the boys will be in 212. I'll be in 211. I'm sure you know where the hot spring is."

"Yes." She pocketed the key and followed him and the boys down the hallway towards the rooms.

When they got to room 113, the room of their mission recipient, she fidgeted in her spot. She could feel Sasuke's eyes darting from her to Naruto, though she didn't want to look up in fear that she would turn red.

The door opened, and a kind-looking young woman with indigo hair and gentle teal eyes smiled at them. "Ah, you must be the shinobi from Konoha!"

"We are, ma'am," Kakashi nodded, handing her the scroll. "Here is your scroll, as promised."

"Oh thank you very much," she gushed as she pocketed the scroll. Her cheeks turned a little pink as she beheld Kakashi-sensei, and she shyly asked, "Would you like to come in and chat for a while? I could order in room service."

Naruto almost gagged behind Kakashi-sensei's back at how forward she was being. Sasuke looked away, and Sakura smiled.

_"They would be really cute together,"_ she thought to herself.

_"Heyyyy, maybe if they hooked up we could finally get an answer from her about what Kakashi-sensei's face looks like!"_ Inner chimed in at the same time that her two male teammates shot each other a look that felt like they'd just had an epiphany from God.

Sakura joined in their look and they all turned to Kakashi-sensei, who was rubbing the back of his neck.

"Actually," she jumped in, pressing her hands against his back with a sweet smile to Jun, "I think it would be a great idea for you two to sit and chat for a while! You always want to make good connections in the shinobi world, right, Kakashi-sensei?"

She gave a mischievous grin to the man when he looked back and realized that she was using his own words (used when she got into a fight with Naruto once) against him.

"Yeah! We'll be just fine by ourselves, right guys?" Naruto added cheekily, adding to the weight at the gray-haired Jonin's back.

"We can take care of ourselves," Sasuke smirked at him. "You just go in and relax for a while, Sensei."

"Wha-- well if you're absolutely sure," Kakashi chuckled, closing his visible eye for a moment. "Alright, what do you have in mind for room service?"

Jun caught the genins' eye before her door closed, and she gave Sakura a mouthed 'thank you'. Sakura gave her a thumbs-up in reply, and as the door shut they heard the woman's giddy voice fading slowly from their ears.

"Well, hopefully she can do something to see his face," Naruto stuffed his hands in his pockets and grinned at the two of them.

"Yeah," Sakura trailed off as she spotted the blond man from earlier walking up the stairs at the end of the hallway. "So... what now?"

"Wanna go for a dip in the onsen?" Naruto asked, leaning in and wiggling his eyebrows. "We could go in the shared baths together-- _OW_!" He reeled from Sasuke's fist against the top of his head.

The boy's glare looked like he was ready to castrate the blond himself, turning and walking off. "You are not going to peep on women while we're on a mission, dobe. Do you _want_ Kakashi-sensei to stop giving us missions to Yugakure?"

"Y-- yeah, Naruto, Sasuke-kun is right," she added, giving the boy a frown. "Don't push your luck like that."

"Whaaaat? C'mon, Sakura-chan, you know I wouldn't do anything malicious," he groaned, rubbing the sore spot on his head.

"Do I though?" She flatly answered, turning to catch up to Sasuke. "Uh, Sasuke-kun! Wait!"

He paused in his stride, allowing her to catch up, before walking again. "Hn. I'm going for a dip myself."

"O-- oh, yeah, that sounds amazing right now!" She agreed, blushing softly as she looked away from his handsome face. "Uh, after we're done... would you want to... h-- have di--"

He looked over with a frown. "I'm tired. I'm going to bed once I'm done."

He left her stock-still in the hallway with hardly a backwards glance.

"Ah... ha ha..." she chortled softly, shoulders slumping forward. "... right..."

_"Shannaro... I wanna melt into a puddle and die...!"_

Trudging towards the stairs, she let out a tiny sigh. This entire mission was supposed to be romantic! Why did she always find herself messing it up?

_"Maybe I should just not speak to him for the rest of the trip,"_ she thought to herself as she passed the first room on the second floor. Her grip on her pack tightened. _"I could always just spend my time practicing with chakra control."_

As she looked up to see the room signs, she accidentally bumped into the man from earlier.

"O-- oh, sorry sir!" She stammered, straightening back up as she looked up into his kind-looking face. "I wasn't looking where I was going..."

"We meet again, coincidentally," he replied, a flicker of amusement going through his eyes as he gestured to his room. "I believe I promised to answer all of your questions, did I not?"

She blinked. "Eh?"

Then it clicked, and her eyes widened. "Y-- you--!"

"Rest assured, I didn't follow you here." He placated, gently steering her towards his room. "However, this meeting... intrigues me. I believe it would be better if we spoke in private. We would not want your teammates seeing you with me, would we?"

"N-- no, we-- we wouldn't," she softly answered, glancing over her shoulder to where Sasuke had disappeared. _"Where's a distraction from Naruto when you need 'im? Cha...! He's probably still mad about my question from last night!"_

As he shut the door behind himself, she wrung her hands together nervously. She watched with wide eyes as he sat down on one of the cushions beside a low table, and he gestured to the one across from him.

"Please, sit," he said, and she caught a glimpse of his eyes flickering between honey-brown and scarlet.

She swallowed hard. "Okay."

She tentatively took off her shoes and padded over on uncertain legs until she was at the low table. She waited a moment more before sinking to her knees, folding her hands in her lap. Her entire body was rigid as she observed him calmly pouring out two cups of tea. He handed her one of them, and as she took it from his hands she noticed him gazing at her with hooded eyes.

"I did not poison it, in case you were wondering," he said, taking a sip of his own.

_"Can you imagine?"_ She thought wryly as she took a tentative sip of the tea. It was calming; it was most likely lavender tea, from the scent. _"Having tea with a wanted criminal -- with my teammates just down the hall. Just imagine what Ino-Pig would say."_

_"She would totally flip!"_ Inner agreed, folding her arms over her chest. _"She'd probably call us a liar, though. Hmph! As if she gets to go on missions like this with Sasuke-kun where this happens!"_

When she sat the cup down after a few sips, she licked her lips and looked up. He had not shed his disguise yet, and he still bore a striking resemblance when he looked over like that.

He politely nodded. "Now, what other questions did you have for me?"

_"Ah, right... I forgot, I had a lot of things to ask last night..."_ she sweatdropped and tried to recall. "Um... right, well, what exactly are you...?"

"My mission is classified," he replied matter-of-factly, resting his hands in his lap below the table. "I do not believe a girl this young would want to hear the, ah, explicit details."

"R-- right," she agreed shakily. The image of Sasuke, impaled and dying, flittered through her mind, and she fought off a shiver. "Why did you... find me?"

"I was merely on my way to Yugakure when I found you alone," he explained. "I believed it to be more to your benefit if you were not wandering through the forest alone until nightfall, and so I allowed you to rest until your sensei came to get you."

She nodded. _"That does make sense,"_ she mused with a frown. _"I would have probably gotten lost had he not stepped in. But it still doesn't add up..."_

"But... why me?" She asked finally, looking up into his eyes. A rather foolish notion, she realized, as soon as she noticed the flicker from brown to red once more.

He almost seemed to falter at this question, as if she'd caught him off-guard.

_"Fat chance of that,"_ she snarked to herself, patiently waiting for a reply. _"He's so much older and-- and way more skilled than I am. I couldn't stop him up with a question like that."_

Itachi thought to himself for a few precious moments. While he had indeed left the group alone the night before once he was discovered, his mission to the hot spring village was purely coincidental. He wasn't planning to meet the young kunoichi again, but apparently fate had other plans. He was sure that she was linked to his otouto in some way -- and yet she seemed unaware of it. It was... quite baffling.

He opened his mouth to speak -- and shut it again. What answer would placate her? He was not expecting her to be so inquisitive. He could not rebuff her, as he'd witnessed his foolish brother before. She was fragile, and yet stronger than one would give her credit at first glance. He knew his otouto's dismissive behavior cut her, yet she didn't cry like he would have expected her to. Perhaps she was growing from her childish adoration.

Finally, he spoke up. "You have... certain qualities about you. You are very closely-linked to my otouto, in a way I cannot explain."

"Qualities?" She perked up a bit, as if he'd told her she won a puppy. "Really?"

"You have the potential to be strong," he added, taking another sip of tea. "You must utilize it, lest you want it to rot away."

"But how?" She asked, deflating a bit as she stared sadly at the table. "Naruto and-- and Sasuke-kun are so skilled. I could never keep up with them."

Ah, there was her true fear. Inadequacy. Even with one glance he could tell she had the potential that all young shinobi did, and from what he had witnessed of her, she had excellent control of her chakra. Her analytical ability was just as honed as her intelligence in the academy. The skill was there, she just had to experiment with it. Practice.

"You have perfect chakra control. You do not have to focus on everything at once to become a skilled shinobi," he explained, reaching to poke her forehead before he could control his instinct. When his fingers tapped, they both froze for a moment before he pulled away, surprised at his own actions. She was more shocked than he, frozen in her spot with wide eyes.

He looked away, taking a sip of tea. Awkward. She had looked just like Sasuke in that moment, his eternal worries of not being good enough causing him to react.

"Are you sure?" Her voice was quieter than she would have wanted, and it made him look up. She was cupping her forehead, her eyes shinier than they had been. She looked so hopeful, it almost made him feel ashamed.

"I have never lied about one's ability before," he said, almost fondly. His lips twitched, as if he was going to smile. He didn't. "Even your teacher, Hatake Kakashi, has earned my respect as a powerful foe."

She looked down, her cheeks going red. Her brows were knit together in a frown, contemplating.

"How would I..." she was hesitant to ask, looking up shyly. "... how would I become strong?"

"That is for you to realize for yourself, I'm afraid," he gave her an almost sympathetic look as he finished his tea. "I do not hold all of the answers."

When she slumped again, he added as an afterthought, "Perhaps you would do good in the medical corps."

"The medic nin," she muttered softly to herself. She nodded. "Yeah, I could. That way I could be more use to them!"

He simply waited until she finished her own cup before moving to pour more. "Is that all you wanted to ask of me?"

"Well, I-- I guess so," she admitted. "I've forgotten my questions."

"That is fine." He nodded once, handing her the cup back. "I'm afraid there aren't very many of your inquiries that I am liable to answer."

As they both drank their tea, they sat there in relative quiet. It was a rather bizarre sight, had you not been expecting it; Uchiha Itachi, infamous criminal, drinking tea with his younger brother's only female teammate. Had Sasuke seen them, he would have been stupefied.

Once she was done with her cup, she looked towards the door. "I, um, I might have to get going..."

"Ah," Itachi nodded, rising to his feet. "Perhaps I should go as well."

She stood, waiting awkwardly by as he passed her to go to the door. She followed him, and when they opened the door, Sasuke was passing by.

He glanced towards the two before doing a double-take, his face twisting into a frown. "Sakura, what are you doing?"

"I-- I was, um, having tea! W-- with," she looked up at the disguised man with a pleading look.

"I was merely having a chat with an old friend's daughter," he answered smoothly. "Mebuki Haruno was on my original genin team, if I do recall."

"Yeah!" She agreed with a smile. "Daichi here was just, uh, wanting to know about Mom and Dad! Y'know?"

Sasuke stared between them for a good five seconds. It was obvious that he didn't buy it, but he sighed anyway and turned. "Well if you're gonna go into the onsen, better make it quick. I think Naruto was going to try and peek over the fence."

She laughed nervously, watching him go. "Oh that Naruto."

_"Tch! He'd better not peep on ME! I'll knock 'im into next Wednesday!"_ Inner added angrily, smacking her fist into her open palm.

_"Sasuke-kun didn't look too impressed... almost like he was upset about something?"_ She thought worriedly, clasping her hands together. _"I hope I didn't make him mad..."_

_"That look on his face... so intense!"_ Inner swooned, raising an arm to shade her face. _"I was so sure that he was going to lead us away like a knight in shining armor just now!"_

"Well, I, um, thanks," she stuttered, looking back up at the amused-looking 'Daichi'. "For the tea! And... helping me out there..."

"I would not want to blow my cover in such a public location," he answered, shutting the door and brushing past her. "It was pleasant having tea with you, Haruno Sakura. If we must meet again, I pray it will not be on the battlefield."

She watched him leave, just as nonchalantly as you please, before something stuck out in her mind as she turned to go down the hall.

_"Wait a minute, how did he know my mom's name?"_


	3. Helpful Advice

Another week passed between that meeting. Team 7 had been busy with more D-rank missions, until Kakashi _finally_ let them go on another C-rank.

Sakura was glad for the trip out of Konoha. Now that the team had had a taste of freedom, it was hard to go back to menial tasks like mowing lawns and buying groceries. She knew Naruto and Sasuke were feeling it too. Naruto seemed to complain about the missions more than he had before, and even Sasuke chimed in once or twice. She'd be embarrassed if she admitted just how often she found herself whining about it too. Yet Kakashi-sensei never snapped back at them, just let them get it out and then he'd start them on something else. Often, he allowed them to take breaks from the D-ranks to train, much to the boys' delight.

They would go out and fight for what felt like hours, and Sakura would stay back and study the medical book she'd borrowed from the library. Thanks to Itachi's advice, she found herself able to heal more than minor cuts and scrapes by the week's end, without feeling like she was going to pass out just by standing up too quickly. The book had some surprisingly good advice for expanding your chakra reserves, and especially dietary needs -- she had been very surprised to learn just how badly she was feeding herself when she first read through that chapter. Sure, she had a razor-thin physique that many might call 'dainty', but she hardly needed to stretch for you to feel her ribs through her skin. (She had firmly decided, with input from her parents, that she would start adding more meats to her diet, and that she would eat just a bit more -- after all, she couldn't properly compete with Ino over Sasuke's love if she was dead from starvation!)

Now she was armed with a full notebook copy of the medical book, complete with colored diagrams (as the librarian was reluctant to allow her to take it out of the village with her), one that she was determined to study up on while they were out. Kakashi noticed her new zeal and simply smiled, offering to let her test her skills on him if she ever wanted to. She had, so far, made him one of her occasional patients, as Naruto and Sasuke both gave her more than enough material to work with. Naruto already pushed for her to heal him first, as it would give them an intimate window of time to sit together, much to Sakura and Sasuke's collective discontent. She never minded healing Sasuke, always insisting that he gets any nasty cut from a shuriken or burns from a misfired fire jutsu taken care of before he and Naruto got back to squabbling. He seemed to get mildly annoyed by it the first few times she'd forced him to sit (and the fact that Naruto was jeering at him in the background definitely wasn't helping anything), but now, he just sighed and did as asked, sitting quietly and watching her hands work with sharp eyes until she deemed him good to go. He always turned over the affected limb (or rose his shirt a little higher to see where the burn had gone), as if inspecting its quality, before nodding in approval and hopping up to go over to where Naruto was.

And now, today, they were in the Hokage's office, discussing the mission with their client, a fourteen-year-old boy by the name of Akihiro. Flamboyant, just like the boy himself, with his shiny blond hair held back in a ponytail and judging icy-blue eyes. For a brief moment, Sakura thought to herself that he reminded her of Ino, but she quickly shot it down. No matter how many petty squabbles they got into, at least Ino was nice enough to her afterwards. Akihiro gave off the vibe of someone who held onto grudges for at least a good six months after the argument ended, and she hadn't even known him for more than fifteen minutes yet to know any better of him.

Oh sure, he was an attractive teenager, but next to _Sasuke-kun_? Sakura wanted to laugh out loud. Next to Sasuke-kun, Akihiro seemed like some bleached imitation. He would never get to Sasuke-kun's level of 'cool', no matter how richly he was dressed.

Thankfully, it was going to be a short one: one of the treasured nephews of the daimyo needed to be safely escorted to another village for his own safety, as one of the man's recent actions had caused a faction of citizens to become extremely hostile to the family. Unfortunately, the nephew immediately picked a fight with Naruto, and anyone even remotely familiar with Konoha's number-one loudmouthed ninja knew that he _immediately_ took to the chance to exchange heated words with the rich boy.

Both Sasuke and Sakura exchanged annoyed looks and even Kakashi-sensei let out a heavy sigh. This was going to be a _long_ , long five-day round trip.

* * *

_ Sakura. Wanted. To. Punch. Him. _

It took all of her self-control to keep her clenched fists at bay by the end of their first day of travel. Even Kakashi-sensei looked like he was dying to do something, and he was easily the most collected adult Sakura had ever known in her life.

More than once the boy began insulting Naruto, whether it be his clothes ("Seriously bro, who the hell wears _bright orange clothing_ when they're supposed to be a shinobi?") to his smell ("Have you even _bothered_ to shower lately? I can smell you all the way over here! At least use cologne!"). More than once, Sakura had to step in and quiet Naruto's angry shouts, reminding him that, as much as they all wanted to, they couldn't harm the client. He was eventually placated with promises of going out for Ichiraku with him once they got back to Konoha ("But not as a date!" She was firm to establish).

Sasuke had been awfully quiet, moreso than usual, as they travelled. His shoulders were tense, as if he sensed something coming. He sent sharp glances over to Akihiro every so often, and when the boy smugly told him "You know, you could just tell me you're into me," the Uchiha shot him the darkest glare he could muster. Not that it did anything to Akihiro's mood, of course. The boy was quick to laugh it off with a passive "I get way worse at home from Grandad's advisors; gotta step up your game, pretty boy."

Sakura sighed as they set up camp. Akihiro was lounging near his pack, watching casually as the genin did all the work. Kakashi had left earlier to scout out the area better, as if giving them more time alone with the snobby boy would help matters. Naruto was tense, grumbling darkly under his breath, and Sasuke worked without a word, only sending the boy dirty looks over his shoulder whenever he dared make a noise louder than a sigh.

Finally tired of the tense atmosphere, Sakura stood up straight from where she was stacking firewood and announced, "I'm going to wash." Shooting Naruto a dirty glare, she added, "And don't even think about following me."

"Whaaat?" Naruto whined, turning to face her. "You're really leaving us alone here with Douchey McJerkface?"

" _Naruto_!" She hissed. "Shut _up_!"

 _"Yeah, you idiot!"_ Inner crowed, punching the palm of her hand. _"If our pay gets docked just 'cause you hurt a rich boy's feelings, then we'll all have hell to pay!"_

"Make sure you leave some shampoo for the rest of us," Akihiro called with a mocking grin. "I mean, if you'd even think about practicality, at least. Your hair's long enough to put a boutique outta business, girl."

 _"Are you just gonna take that? Shannaro!"_ Inner gasped, offended. _"At least lemme rough 'im up for a sec!"_

"My hair is none of your business, bishounen," she remarked coldly before she could stop herself, clenching her fists angrily.

"You're never gonna win any favors by continuing to waste energy on it," the blond clapped back, feigning boredom as he gazed at his nails. "Just do your team a favor and shove your big nose back in your book. Trust me, that boy you like doesn't seem like he'd mind at all."

"I said it's none of your business!" She screamed, her face heating up, mortified, as Sasuke looked over at her with an unreadable face. "Naruto, I'm going! Stay here if you don't wanna get pummeled into the future!"

Angry tears prickled her eyes as she shot him her most venomous look and stomped over to her pack. She grabbed her towel, soap, and a hairtie and stormed away from camp, not even bothering to listen to Naruto's angry yelling at the teenage boy.

 _"That could've gone much better,"_ Inner Sakura huffed, folding her arms. _"Geez... Sasuke-kun probably thinks we're lame now."_

 _"Tell me about it,"_ she thought, bitterly wiping her tears with the back of her hand as she stomped through the brush. _"I wish I could just die right here."_

As soon as she got to the lake, she let out a sob and fell to the rocks. She'd promised herself when they left Konoha that she was going to try to stop crying so much, but his words had cut right through her. It wasn't so much that they were offensive, it was moreso that they were right.

She fingered her long strands of hair and let out a whimpering noise from deep in her throat, supplemented by sniffling breaths.

"What am I even doing?" She hiccupped, gripping them tight and tugging. They sent a painful jolt up to her scalp, but she didn't care. "Why am I doing this anymore?"

Long, slender fingers cupped her shoulder, and before she could gasp in surprise, Uchiha Itachi's voice reached her ears. "I was under the impression that you wanted a way to get stronger. Was I wrong?"

"A-- Akatsuki-san," she stammered, looking up at him with tears still dribbling down her face. "I didn't know that you were--"

"I heard you," he replied simply, reaching into his cloak to take out a handkerchief. He handed it to her. "Here."

"I can't," she weakly shook her head, gazing at the nice item. She could see the clan's crest embroidered on one corner, and it made her feel worse. "I-- I have some back at camp, I'll be fine until--"

"Haruno, I insist." His eyes narrowed a fraction, and he pressed it into her shaking hands. "Compose yourself. I will wait."

As if to emphasize his words, Itachi sat down on a rock a couple of feet away, watching her with scarlet eyes.

Instinctively, she looked away from his face, still sniffling, as she looked down at the cloth. Hesitant, she dabbed at her eyes until they were mostly dry, though her back still heaved from the shuddery breaths she took. She hid her face in her bangs, holding out the handkerchief in a mortified shyness. "H-- here... Sorry..."

"Crying is a natural part of human life," he answered, taking it carefully from her hand. He folded it primly and it disappeared into his cloak again. "No one can say honestly that they have not had to release their emotions through tears before."

The question almost leapt to her tongue, but she held it. Still, when she looked up at him in question, it hung silent in the air between them. _And you, too?_

He bowed his head a little, looking down at the running water of the river. "... Of course, I myself am not immune to it. Nor is anyone."

She nodded slowly, a sigh escaping her lips as she rested her head in her hands, balancing her elbows on her knees. Her sandals scraped absentmindedly at the rocks at the river's edge, and she experimentally dipped her big toe into the river for a moment. It was cold, as she'd expected.

The two of them sat there in silence for a few minutes, the crickets filling the empty spaces as well as the rushing water. Sakura desperately wanted to say something, but at the same time, she didn't feel like she could.

 _"Eeeeek... this is so awkward!"_ She thought, sparing the older man a glance. He was staring into the water with as content of a face as she'd seen on him thus far. She looked back to her shoes. _"I wanna say something, but... he's so intimidating! I don't think I can!"_

 _"We just need to get it over with!"_ Inner shuddered, wrapping her own arms about herself. _"If he decides to do something, we'll just have to go with it! Cha, I'm too nervous!"_

After psyching herself up, she opened her mouth to speak. She'd already had a whole sentence planned, but when he looked over with that calm face, an entirely different set of words tumbled out instead.

"I'm sorry, I'm really annoying, aren't I?"

She shut up really fast, eyes going wide. She hadn't expected to say it, but with him looking at her like that, she just... said it!

To her credit, Itachi's eyes only widened for a fraction of a second before his face was impassive as always. "I have not said such a thing; have you heard that often?"

Her cheeks grew hot, embarrassed. She looked away with a frown. "It's just... well, I can't really do much to help the team... Sasuke-kun and Naruto are always so... well, they're really good at this. But me?"

She slumped over further. "It's like I keep messing everything up. I'm not good at being a ninja. I mean, it's like Sasuke-kun always says..."

She trailed off, remembering who she was venting to. She looked back up at him, only to see him looking like he was mulling something over. His eyebrows rose a fraction, spurring her to say more.

"A-- anyway, that Akihiro guy, I know deep down he's right about me." She finished the sentence, frowning sadly into the water. A few strands of petal-pink hair fell over her shoulder, and she reached up to grab them. "I'm always trying to change myself, all so I can finally get Sa-- uh, _his_ attention... but he never gives me the time of day. I went on a diet so that I could have that skinny figure every girl wants, I spend half an hour on my hair every day, just brushing it, and... and my only redeeming quality is that I have good grades."

"So... yeah..." she finished lamely, shrugging her shoulders. "... maybe Sasuke-kun is right. I am really annoying."

 _"While it feels good to get all of that off of my chest..."_ she thought with a sigh, clenching her eyes shut, _"... I don't want it to seem like I'm just whining. It feels like every time I open up to someone..."_

 _"We can't worry about that right now,"_ Inner was quick to reply, looking over in bemusement. _"Have you forgotten that you're sitting by the river with an actual criminal? You'd better hope that no one comes by and sees you!"_

The mood was tense between them. Sakura didn't dare look up to see his reaction, and Itachi was staring at her, processing her words.

 _"I... may have underestimated the emotional baggage capacity of children these days,"_ Itachi thought to himself with a heavy mental sigh. _"It seems as if venting has helped her, but I don't know what to say to that."_

Instead, he asked, "You have not been starving yourself, have you?"

Startled, she looked up wide-eyed. "U-- uh--"

Her guilty face only confirmed his worry. He sighed quietly, shaking his head. "Kunoichi, you know just as well as I that your health is important at your age. Do not worry about my foolish otouto, just get the nutrition that you need."

She winced back, as if his words had struck her. "I-- I know, but--"

"While I hardly have the right to eavesdrop on such matters," he continued, his voice growing a touch colder, "I do know Sasuke well enough to know that he would not appreciate you to be so emaciated. You can hardly practice your budding medical ninjutsu without energy."

She slumped over, tears threatening to rise to her eyes again. The truth was hard, but she knew that he was right. "I... I know..."

He stopped before he could continue, his own surprise overriding his words. _"This girl is hardly any of my concern... she may very well become a tool to assist in Sasuke's hatred later in her life. But... but for one so young and impressionable to make such poor choices, I feel it necessary to step in."_

He tensed then, Sharingan coming to life as he scanned the trees. Enemy nin were closing in on their camp, no doubt to try and assassinate the boy with them.

He looked back to her, and he caught her fearful look before he blinked, and his eyes were back to black. "There are enemy shinobi coming to try and harm your client. I would suggest you go back before it's too late."

She nodded quickly, standing from the boulder. She paused, though, looking up at him with such a hopeful expression that his chest clenched. "A-- ano, um, Akatsuki-san, do you think we'll continue to meet?"

"... you wish for my company?" He asked, only barely managing to conceal his surprise.

"Well, it's just..." she kicked at a pebble, looking down with burning cheeks, "... you have, um, really great advice. A-- and I don't mind you being here! It's just that you, kinda intimidate me a b-- bit,"

He blinked. "Ah. I see." I mean, what else could he say?

"But!" She continued, before he cut her off by reaching over to rest a hand atop her soft bubblegum locks.

"I cannot take unnecessary roads near Konoha," he explained gently. "But be it that we cross paths again, you have my word that I will try to, ah, seek you out."

This time, a grateful smile spread across her face, and she nodded as he took his hand away. "Thank you, Akatsuki-san."

"If you must call me anything, then I would prefer Uchiha-san," he gently reprimanded before he tugged the collar of his cloak higher to hide the slight amused curl of his lip. "Now hurry, back to your camp. If you wish to prove yourself as a shinobi, then protect your client."

"I will!" She announced, leaving her stuff by the rocks as she sprinted back to camp. No doubt their sensei had sensed them as well, because with one sweep of the trees, Itachi noted a certain silver-haired man sprinting to the site.

With one last look towards the young kunoichi, Uchiha Itachi disappeared into the trees.


	4. Taking a Hit

The battle had been short-lived; as soon as Sakura got to camp, she only had enough time to scramble to Akihiro before the shinobi attacked. She'd shoved him behind her just as one of the men stabbed her in the arm with a knife, causing her to screech in pain.

Sasuke had immediately whipped his head around, Sharingan blazing, and jumped at the shinobi, momentarily stunned both from his miss, and from Sakura's piercing scream. (Her father had always said that she could shatter glass if she wanted to.)

Akihiro had only fallen to the ground and watched as Naruto and Sasuke pounced on the nin, followed closely by Kakashi, who spent a moment to look over a shaken Sakura ("Are you alright?!" "I-- I think so,") before ending the battle with a well-placed Chidori.

Sakura had to force the tears away. _"Dammit, I won't cry. I will not cry. Shinobi get hurt all the time. Don't do it in front of Sasuke-kun! I will not cry!"_

"H-- hey, kid," Akihiro had stammered, reaching for her other arm. "You good? It looks like they got you pretty deep..."

"I..." Sakura's voice faltered, and she let out a shuddery breath. She did not cry. "I-- I'll be fine."

She turned to the boy. "What about you? Are you hurt?"

He looked startled at the question. "H-- huh? Me?"

The light from the fire threw warm orange tints across her skin, revealing the sweat beaded on her brow as she checked him over. "Uh, obviously you!" She huffed, ignoring the blood seeping to the surface of her skin.

He blinked at her, taking his arm back as she sat back on her haunches. "I'm fine... that was kinda scary, but... I'm fine."

She nodded in satisfaction, turning to the fire. "Good."

"You idiot, don't freeze up like that!" Sasuke hissed at Naruto once the nin were rounded up.

"They caught me by surprise! I'm surprised _Sakura-chan_ saw them coming!" Naruto defended. He froze for a second before whirling around, apologetically holding up his hands. "A-- ack! No offense, Sakura-chan! I just meant--"

"Save it, Naruto," her voice was quiet as she pressed a hand to her wound. When her fingers came away, they were bright red and slick with blood.

She looked up when Sasuke presented her with a handkerchief from his pants pocket.

"Use it," he ordered, all but shoving it into her hands. "Once the bleeding stops, I'll patch it up."

The unsaid addition of _I'm sorry you got hurt_ lingered for a moment before he turned away, stalking towards Naruto.

Surprisingly, she didn't catch it. She blinked in surprise, only brought back to reality by the weird feeling of blood trickling down her arm. She looked down at the handkerchief, noticing a familiar emblem embroidered into the corner. Her hair shadowed her eyes as she looked down at her lap. Slowly, she folded it up and pressed it tightly to the wound.

She tuned out Naruto's angry yelling at Sasuke. _"Why would he give me his handkerchief for the wound? Why not a tissue?"_

 _"You honestly think he wanted to take the extra time to get out a packet of tissues from his bag?"_ Inner scoffed, cheeks blushing as she put her hands on her hips. _"His hankie was probably the closest thing to give you so that you don't leave your blood all over the ground like that. I mean get real! How cute can you be bleeding out all over the place?"_

 _"It's... surprisingly nice,"_ she mused, her lips curling into a small smile. Her heart was fluttering. _"I feel really bad about ruining the fabric, though. I'll have to rinse it out as soon as I can."_

 _"I'll tell ya what it is!"_ Inner suddenly looked up with heart-eyes, clasping her hands together. _"It's friggin RO-MAN-TIC! SHANNARO! What's next, a bouquet of flowers? A necklace? HIS SHIRT?!"_

Pushing away the mental images of a shirtless Sasuke handing her his trademark navy shirt with that handsome smirk of his, she pulled the handkerchief away to reveal a large spot of blood. She grimaced. At least she wasn't bleeding that much anymore.

She looked up, only to see Kakashi-sensei scolding the two boys as he held them under both arms. Naruto looked absolutely livid, while Sasuke looked mildly affronted at being held under the man's arm like a duffel bag.

She shook her head gently. _"I shouldn't bother him. He looks kinda mad."_

Akihiro cleared his throat, catching her attention. She looked over to see him standing near her with a first-aid kit from one of their bags, an embarrassed blush painting his cheeks red.

"H-- here, let me help." His voice was as gentle as he could make it, though still awkward, as he knelt beside her, taking her wrist in his hand. "It's my fault you got hurt."

 _"CHA?!"_ Inner screamed, jaw dropping to the floor. _"No way, no how! Sasuke-kun said he'd do it for us, not this arrogant brat!"_

"O-- oh, uh," she stammered intelligently as she pressed the handkerchief back to her wound. "You really don't have to, it's fine."

"Just because I'm wealthy doesn't mean I'm a heartless jerk, ya know," he snapped back. "Just let me apologize. Don't make it weird."

"I-- I'm not--!" She exclaimed, before she sighed heavily. "If this is about your comments about me being useless, then it's whatever."

"It was... out of line of me," he muttered under his breath as he pulled out a roll of bandages from the box. "I humbly apologize."

 _"Did-- did he just pull that out of his ass?"_ Sakura thought to herself as she gawked at him. _"That's the kind of apology my mom gives her boss when he gets offended! What kind of--"_

"Hey." Sasuke's voice, cool, made them both look up. The boy was glaring at Akihiro. "Go back to sulking on the log. We're trained to patch ourselves up."

"What, so you can be some kind of knight in shining armor or something?" Akihiro barked a laugh, letting go of her wrist. "Get real! You don't even pay her the time of day, and suddenly you wanna be all nice and help her? At least I'm trying to apologize for calling her useless!"

Sasuke's eyes flashed red, and Akihiro made a quick movement back. "I said, _go back to your log_."

"Tch!" Akihiro rolled his eyes and got to his feet, dusting off his knees. "Fine then! Next time I'll use you as a human shield instead."

"Hey, leave him alone!" Sakura suddenly shouted, sending him her worst glare as she made a move to stand. "Just because your ego got hurt doesn't give you the right to make threats like that!"

Sasuke put a hand on her shoulder, effectively stopping her. "Sakura. Stay down."

She said nothing in reply, roses blooming in her cheeks in shame over her outburst as he sat down beside her, taking the roll that the older teenage boy had all but thrown back into its box. He grabbed his water bottle and looked over at the handkerchief. "Have you cleaned it yet?"

"O-- oh," she mumbled, cheeks turning pink. "I guess I should've done that first."

He let out a small breath through his nose, took the handkerchief back, and immediately grimaced away at the deep crimson bloodstain. Something flickered through his coal eyes, something like trepidation.

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry," Sakura was quick to apologize, reaching for it. "I was gonna rinse it out when I went back to the river, s-- so you don't have to--"

"It's fine, I've got others." He grumbled, unfolding and refolding it so that the blood was hidden (although when he noticed just how large the splotch was, he gave her arm an almost worried glance). He soaked it with water and cleaned off some of the sweat and dirt from before, before applying ointment and taking her wrist to hold her still.

Sakura watched him work with a burning face, unable to take her eyes off of the bandages being wrapped around her arm. He was surprisingly gentle with her, and if she made a noise of discomfort he looked up with his lips pressed into a thin line, his eyes apologetic. It was totally silent between them, save for how loudly Sakura thought her heart was pounding.

 _"This is about the closest we've ever gotten to Sasuke-kun while he's awake and willing to touch us!"_ Inner was squealing, covering her face with her hands as she whipped her head around. _"Cha! Maybe we should take hits more often if it means we get to see this caring side!"_

As soon as he tucked the last piece into place, he leaned back, letting go of her wrist (it was strangely warm, even after his skin was gone) to observe his work. When he nodded to himself and put the bandages away, he gave her a sharp look. "Don't make it a habit to take hits for people. That's how you get put out of commission. You won't be any better to the team if you're passed out from blood loss."

She winced at his tone, giving him a weary smile. "O-- of course. Sorry about that, Sasuke-kun."

His eyes softened a fraction (although she didn't notice) before he shut the lid on the box and stood to put it away. She watched him go, drooping a little bit.

 _"Chaaaa, what's it gonna take for him to actually notice us?"_ Inner grumped, sitting in the corner with a cartoonish raincloud above her. _"HELLOOOO, SASUKE-KUN! Ready and willing to do anything for you, RIGHT HEEEERE!"_

She instead heaved a tiny sigh, getting to her feet. "I'm going to the river..."

As she trudged away, she saw Kakashi turn his head in her direction, his visible eye narrowed in worry. She gave him a half-hearted smile before leaving the camp.

* * *

Sakura heaved another sigh as she sat down on the rock again, eyeing her new bandages. Sasuke's harsh voice rang through her mind again, and she prodded the wound, wincing when it throbbed in pain.

She gingerly cupped it with her left hand and stared at the flowing water, the setting sun throwing shimmering splashes of rosy colors against the calm blue.

She hardly heard the approaching footsteps, but when she wearily looked up, she saw Itachi again, his ink-black eyes scanning her person. Likely looking for her new injury, she supposed.

She gave him a weak smile and let her hand fall away from the bandages, showing off the stark white against her slightly-tanned peach skin.

"Why did you not heal yourself?" He asked as he finally sat down a few feet away.

"I..." her voice faltered. Why _hadn't_ she? Her first instinct should have been to use her chakra for her wounds, but... somehow, in the adrenaline of the fighting, she'd simply forgotten. She felt foolish thinking back on it, but her first instinct was to throw herself in the face of danger to protect the client.

She looked towards the bandages, noting the way a certain spot was beginning to take on a rosy hue. Her lips pressed together. When she'd aggravated it, it had probably started to bleed again.

Finally, she looked back over at him with a look of almost shame. "I... really don't know. I guess I just forgot. I know, it was really stupid to just jump in like that, but... I couldn't just do nothing and let him get hurt."

He gave a quiet hum of acknowledgement before his eyes turned red, and she instinctively looked away.

Itachi looked over her arm, not seeing anything amiss. It was good that Kakashi had switched out the enemy nin's weapons at the last moment, or else she would have been paralyzed on the ground by now. Against his better wishes (and against the common sense that yelled at him to get away, lest Sasuke notice him nearby), he'd stayed just close enough to watch Team 7 in action. He'd seen the way she abandoned all inhibition and leapt at Akihiro to shield him. It was stupid, as she'd mentioned, but also gave a peek at her innermost soul... as well as notice the uncanny resemblance to someone else, a young woman bearing a matching fierce dedication to her loved ones.

He noted the way her eyes stayed firmly on the water, and he almost felt guilty. The Sharingan was many things. A weapon, a trump card, hell even a lifesaver -- but most of all, it scared those who knew few things about it. For those who hadn't grown up with or around it, it was unnerving and unnatural. It was a thing of legend, something many of the most battle-hardened shinobi would confess they wish they had access to. To those within their clan, it was an unavoidable curse, one that only those with the strongest wills were able to defeat. Itachi was lucky his mother and father had resisted its bloody call -- but he could not say the same for his beloved little brother.

He could see Sasuke's heart just through his eyes -- those expressive eyes that would no doubt one day curse him to do many unspeakable things. He wasn't that sweet, adoring little boy of eight that he'd left behind anymore. That, perhaps, was the hardest thing to come to grips with -- no matter what he did now, Sasuke would hate him, hunt him, and kill him -- all without much remorse. It was what he had taken care to cultivate within the boy, after all.

Was this what he really wanted?

To distract himself from the question, his eyes faded back to black and he spoke up. "Are you proud of your actions?"

"Wh-- what?" She was obviously not expecting that question, of all things. She looked back at him in surprise, and when she noticed that his eyes were normal again, she became a touch more confident in herself. "Well, I guess so. I mean, had I not taken the hit, he would have been hurt. I couldn't just let him take the knife."

"Your first instinct was to jump in front of him?" Itachi rose a slender black eyebrow in response. "And not, let's say, to pull him out of the way?"

At this, Sakura deflated. "Oh yeah, I guess I could've done that..."

Then she straightened up again. "B-- but! If I had, the enemy probably would have adjusted his attack so that he got Akihiro anyway! If I hadn't jumped in, he would have gotten hit instead of me, and my move would have been worthless!"

Itachi nodded his head minutely. "That is a fair point."

She bloomed under his scant praise. Her back straightened, and the tiniest of smiles crept along her mouth. And yet, he could see an insecure child, begging, pleading, for any type of acknowledgement. She was not yet a woman -- not in this profession, nor in her life. She was still naive, still had to learn the harsh realities of the life they all lived. Yet her heart was big, perhaps a bit too big -- he didn't have to search very hard to know that, underneath the monstrous temper and her strength, she loved her team with every inch of her heart.

Perhaps Kakashi was a bit misguided in bringing this team together. He knew just from their talks alone that she often felt inadequate in comparison to Naruto and Sasuke, and the self-loathing was feeding into a self-destructive cycle of inadequacy, trial and error, and then defeat. If she kept believing herself to be so beneath them, she would squander what talent she had.

His lips pressed together, and he looked away. Perhaps she just needed a little push. A shove in the right direction. With her intellect (plus that big notebook she had -- he had actually chuckled when he'd seen it, with its sticky-noted pages and different inks across the page) and her natural affinity for learning, if she had her own personal trial, then perhaps it would bring her all the more close to his brother and their friend.

Perhaps that old man would be willing to aid him in at least one more request.

"Haruno," he called when he noticed her staring. He looked over with a passive face. "You're burning with questions, aren't you?"

"U-- uh!" She straightened, eyes going wide. _"Dammit, he saw right through me! Maybe Sasuke-kun's right about being too easy to read...!"_

When it was apparent that he wasn't going to drop the subject, she relaxed her shoulders a little bit and hummed. "Well, I guess so... I was going to ask how you knew my mom's name back at the onsen. I mean, we're just a civilian family. Mom and Dad haven't been shinobi in ages and ages."

Ah yes, Kizashi and Mebuki Haruno. He nodded in understanding. He recalled the lively couple from a couple of Sasuke's academy functions, whether they were there to cheer on their daughter or just picking her up. She was quite the wallflower back then, although the ribbon she always wore made her look cuter. His mother had mentioned Mebuki a few times, from chatting with the woman while they were waiting for their children. Her opinion of the blonde lady was that she was quite cheerful, and that it felt like they were friends just from two encounters. Considering this, he noted that she'd taken after her mother in that regard. She definitely had the ability to make friends as long as she wasn't doubting herself.

"When Sasuke was young," he began, catching her attention again, "your mother was able to help me find Sasuke when he wandered off from me. And years later, I noticed either of them picking you up from the academy."

"R-- really?" She stuttered. "I don't remember..."

"You were only three at the time, as I recall," a nearly-invisible smile came to his face as he recalled the two sleeping on her mother's lap. "And your father's appearance is rather hard to miss."

She slumped over, embarrassed. "Y-- yeah... Mom always tells me I got my hair from his side of the family."

The resemblance between them was uncanny, now that he'd had the chance to sit with her now. Her father's pink hair, unmistakably, and her mother's eyes. She definitely must have inherited her mother's temper, if his routes home through the civilian neighborhoods as a child were any indication. She'd had a reasonably easy childhood, as far as he was able to tell... save for the bullying he often accidentally witnessed when going to get Sasuke. She and the Kyuubi container...

He stood from his rock, catching her attention again. "I'm afraid I must go. If you don't hurry, your teammates will get suspicious and come to investigate."

"O-- oh, right!" She suddenly remembered, finding her stuff hidden in the bushes. "I was... going to wash..."

"Until we meet again, young kunoichi." He tilted his head to her before walking away.

"Wait!" She suddenly cried, making him halt. She stood there, hands clasped together. "W-- will we see each other again? Like this?"

He turned his head to gaze at her over his shoulder. She held hopeful eyes, something that seemed so foreign to him now. It felt almost akin to Sasuke pleading him for shuriken training, or to spend an evening with his nii-san. It was... subtly guilt-raising, and he looked away when he couldn't stand the look on her face anymore. She was supernaturally good at eliciting other peoples' emotions, that was for sure. A quality that would make her a dire threat in the case she ever realized and honed it in the future.

"... Perhaps we may," he chose his words carefully. He couldn't stand to raise her hopes too high, lest the next time they meet be in battle. It could be months to years before they crossed paths again, and he didn't want her to believe that she'd gotten herself a new best friend. "Only fate will know. Until we meet again, Kami-sama willing in peace."

He left her standing there, blending in with the shadows as he left the area. He didn't want to risk Kakashi finding out that he'd been with his female student, lest his future plans be jeopardized...

... That, and he had to get away from the emotions threatening to manifest themselves in the aching of his chest. He passed it off as his rising sickness and tried to ignore it.

* * *

Sakura sat by the fire, drying her long hair, mindful of the scrapes on her face. The effort it took not to wet the bandages was painstaking, yet she sat here in peace, feeling much better after her bath.

Akihiro was, thankfully, silent. The battle seemed to have really shaken him up, even if he would never speak up about it after the argument with Sasuke. He'd been sitting on a log for the past fifteen minutes, eyes wider than usual, staring at the fire. Every so often, Sakura's brush would catch his eye and he would slowly look over at her, only to quickly look away with a guilty frown.

 _"Yeah, you better feel sorry!"_ Inner Sakura snarled, folding her arms across her chest. _"After we took that hit for you AND you insulting us like that?! Shannaro!"_

Kakashi walked over to where she was now, inspecting the bandages. When he gingerly touched the ends of it, he nodded to himself.

"I apologize for not being here in time to prevent this," he said, gently patting her head when she looked up. Her hair was still wet beneath his fingers, and incredibly silky.

"Oh, Sensei, it's fine," she said in a hushed voice with a small smile. "I couldn't let anyone else get hurt."

 _And I can't let you get hurt,_ he wanted to say, but he stilled his tongue and just smiled back instead. This team -- _this girl_ \-- was going to make his weary heart give out soon enough, he swore it.


	5. A Little Wake-Up Call

Three days after they got home, Kakashi had another C-ranked mission for them. Rather quickly after escorting Akihiro, much to their shared delight. This one was another escort, although their client was a model from one of the smaller satellite villages, who needed to be escorted to Wave.

The three of them simultaneously sobered at the mention of the Wave village the next morning in the Hokage's office. It felt like forever ago that they'd taken down Gato, and yet the events were still fresh as yesterday in their minds. When Kakashi had seen their unease, he had soothed their worries by telling them that Wave was at an uneasy peace right now, and no one would be targeting their client ("At least, not that I know of," he said as he cast a glance at Lord Third. The old man promptly coughed out an unconvincing 'don't worry' in reply).

The three genin looked at each other for a few moments before shrugging and accepting it. Then their client walked into the door, a bombshell beauty with long raven-black hair that cascaded over one of her half-lidded purple eyes. Her smoky eyeshadow accentuated them, and so did her pale skin.

She smiled at the kids.

"Hello, I assume you're my escorts?" Kami-sama, even her voice was sexy. Sakura shifted uneasily from foot to foot as both Naruto and Sasuke looked up at her in bewilderment. "My name is Midori Kotone, but please call me Kotone-nee!"

She couldn't be any more than twenty, Sakura decided as they all walked down to the front gates. The woman was wearing a long coat with fur at the collar, and her hair was pulled into a low bun with a single kanzashi holding it in place. She didn't look chilly at all in the cool morning air, simply hanging back with Kakashi as the three bounded ahead. She was conversing with the cool man, her cheeks flushed in the kind of attraction all three of them had come to recognize when it came to Kakashi-sensei.

"Hey, wonder if she'll be able to see what Kakashi-sensei's face looks like!" Naruto whispered to the other two.

"Doubt it," Sasuke shook his head, sparing the two behind them a quick glance. "If the client from Yugakure couldn't, what makes you think she can?"

"C'mon, she's totally his type!" Naruto insisted. "Doesn't he have a thing for younger girls? Come to think of it, how old is Sensei?"

"Late twenties," Sakura was quick to answer. "Approximately twenty-six, if the profiles are accurate."

"Wow, Sakura-chan!" Naruto looked at her with adoration. "How'd you know that?"

"I read up on him once our teams were assembled," she smiled to herself proudly. "I know all there is to know about him!"

"Which is?" Sasuke asked, impressed.

Beat.

"... absolutely rock bottom," she admitted weakly, as all three of them slumped a little. "All I know is his age, his birthday, his rank, and some of his history in ANBU. There was something in there about him being on a team with Lord Fourth, but... that's it."

"Whaaat? That's it?" Naruto whined. "No photos?"

"None without the mask," she recounted with a sigh. "Sorry, guys."

"At least we have a baseline," Sasuke replied, looking back again. "Perhaps that information will come in handy later on."

 _"CHA! He complimented us!"_ Inner screeched, punching the air. _"Today's getting better and better, and it ain't even nine o'clock yet!"_

Sakura glowed under his praise, smiling to herself even as the two boys began arguing about something. _"At least I was able to help..."_

* * *

A couple of hours into their trip, and Sakura was beginning to get uneasy. She'd been noticing ever since they first got outside the gates, but something was tailing them -- and it didn't feel like a little bunny rabbit. Little things, like eyes from the shadows when no one else could see, or something glinting in the trees.

Naruto and Sasuke, for the most part, seemed unaware of anything. Kakashi was his carefree self, although he seemed to have felt it too, and made wide, sweeping looks around their surroundings. He and Sakura shared a look, a mutual understanding of something's here, be alert.

Meanwhile, Kotone-nee (as she was insistent on being called) had caught up to her and had been making pleasant small talk for the past fifteen minutes. She inquired about the girl, her motivations, her goals, her dreams. Surprisingly, she wasn't all just a pretty face -- Sakura felt a connection with her as they discussed their dreams for the future. The woman was understanding and even a little excited when it came to who she liked.

When Sakura shyly mentioned Sasuke, Kotone chuckled. "Ah, the cute little Uchiha boy. Yes yes, I've noticed you two."

"You-- you have?" Sakura sputtered. "We've only just met!"

"I've been around," the noirette waved her hand dismissively. "I've noticed you two around Konoha. Believe me, there's more to your connection than you know."

"Sasuke-kun and I are... connected?" She repeated quietly, her cheeks going pink. "I don't understand..."

"Of course, it's not my place to judge as an outsider," Kotone's voice dropped to a whisper as she leaned in, "but if you ask me, I've seen the way he looks at you before. He cares more about you than he lets on."

 _"CHA, I KNEW IT!"_ Inner Sakura jumped for joy with fireworks going off in the background, spelling out "Sasu + Saku = <3". _"Sakura one, Ino ZERO! Take that, Pig! Sasuke loves US!"_

"A-- are you sure?" She implored, looking up at the woman with doe eyes.

Kotone let out a gentle laugh, patting the girl's shoulder with one dainty, manicured hand. "Honey, believe me, I've seen enough men in love to know attraction when I see it. Don't give up just yet, you do have a chance."

 _"A chance with Sasuke-kun..."_ She thought giddily, her face taking a rosy glow as a smile slowly grew across her face. How wonderful would that be! _"Does that mean he... loves me? Does Sasuke-kun love me?"_

She looked ahead of them, to the boys as they walked side-by-side. Naruto had his arms crossed behind his head, while Sasuke looked at lease, his hands in his shorts pockets. They'd stopped arguing an hour ago, instead opting to walk together in relative silence. Of course, it could've also been because Kakashi quieted Naruto by telling him that if he could go one full day without provoking Sasuke, then he would get ramen with the boy.

Sasuke momentarily glanced back, feeling her gaze, and she gave him a cheerful smile. His face was pleasantly impassive, and he allowed her a nod of acknowledgement before he turned back around.

... Meh, she would take it! She beamed up at Kotone, who gave her a wink.

"I might need some advice," she sheepishly said, tugging at a lock of her bubblegum hair. "How do I get him to notice me?"

"Just keep being you," the woman replied. "Keep loving. Your greatest gift is your heart; use it."

"But how do I know if I'm making progress?" She asked in frustration. "I just don't know!"

"... you know more about him than you think you do," Kotone replied quietly. "You can read his emotions, can't you?"

"W-- well, sometimes I think I understand what he's feeling," she stumbled over her words, clasping her hands together. "Whenever he has a blank face, if I can see his eyes, usually I'll know if he's angry or if he's... whatever."

"You are linked," the woman reminded, glancing over at where he was walking. "You can read each other like a book. I have to admit to you, you aren't exactly the most trite when it comes to your emotions."

Sakura's shoulders slumped a little. "I-- I know..."

Kotone observed her. She was still so young, and yet there was a budding maturity inside of her. Perhaps her time as a kunoichi had wizened her.

A smile spread across her painted lips, and she patted the girl's shoulder. When she looked up, Kotone replied, "Don't fret. It only goes to show that you have a big heart. I can tell you care about your friends a lot."

"Of course!" Sakura confirmed, sparing the boys a glance with a fond smile. "I don't want anything to happen to them... if they got hurt, I don't know what I'd do."

"Becoming a ninja has matured you," she murmured. "But this lifestyle is a treacherous one. Are you certain that you want to take this path?"

Sakura's face grew indecisive. For a moment, she weighed the pros and cons. _"She's right... sometimes I don't know whether I wanna keep doing this. I could back out, return to the ease of civilian life with Mom and Dad, but..."_

She looked up at Sasuke and Naruto, who were playing I Spy. She smiled when Sasuke casually pointed out something, to which Naruto exclaimed, "Hey! Did you cheat?!"

"I wouldn't trade my days with them for anything..." she realized, clenching her fists. "Sasuke-kun... and Naruto... they're my best friends. Even if it meant risking my life, I..."

Kotone gave a solemn nod. "You are their anchor. You are all linked together by the bonds of camaraderie." She glanced up at Sasuke. "And by love."

Her cheeks flushed again. _"Love..."_

She looked up at Kotone with shining eyes. "Kotone-nee, I..."

All of a sudden, Kotone gasped. "Get down!"

Kakashi whirled into action as Kotone threw herself at Sakura, pinning her beneath her body. The Sharingan in his eye whirled as shuriken came whistling through the air towards them. Thankfully, Naruto and Sasuke deflected some of them -- but it was too late to do anything as Naruto yelped in pain, a dart sticking out of his neck.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the treeline, plucking the dart out. "Are you okay?"

"S-- something pinched me!" Naruto cried, reaching around for his neck. "It feels... really weird..."

Sasuke grunted, ripping a dart out of his own neck. "Me too... dammit, what is this...?"

"You'll be fine," Kakashi's voice was firm as he helped them to a tree.

Within a few seconds, both of them slumped against the trunk, unconscious and limp.

Sakura's eyes widened, and she pushed at Kotone. "Please, get off of me! I have to help them!"

Kotone's eyes were shadowed by her bangs as she increased her weight. "Forgive me, Sakura-chan..."

"K-- Kotone?" Sakura's eyes were teary, both from seeing Naruto and Sasuke collapse and from the woman's betrayal.

Kakashi had somehow disappeared, and soon Kotone got up, extending a hand to help the girl up. She blatantly ignored it, jumping to her feet and racing over to Naruto and Sasuke. She watched almost sadly as Sakura began crying, shaking Sasuke and begging for them both to wake up.

She whirled around to look at Kotone, who was now flanked with two unknown shinobi. "What have you done?!"

"I really am sorry, Sakura-chan," Kotone repeated with a sad smile. "But this is your chance to prove yourself."

"What do you mean--?!" Sakura shouted, getting up when Kotone and the two disappeared in a flurry of leaves. "Hey! Wait!"

When she realized she couldn't feel Kakashi's chakra anywhere in the immediate area, she collapsed to her knees beside Sasuke, sobbing into her hands.

She sat there for a few moments before she hugged him tightly, burying her face in his shirt as her back shuddered. His chest rose and fell beneath her, with no indication that he was going to awaken.

 _"DAMMIT!"_ Inner roared, punching the ground. _"So everything she said was a lie?! The only reason she told us that was to get our guard down enough to ambush Sasuke-kun and Naruto?!"_

"What do I do...?" She blubbered, reaching out to feel for his neck. He had a pulse, and it was calmly beating on. He was only asleep. "Sasuke-kun..."

Suddenly, she felt someone approaching. She jumped to her feet again, harshly wiping away her tears with her arm. "Who's there?!"

A shinobi appeared, kunai knife in hand. He grinned when he saw her. "Ah, this must be the little girl I was told to target. Seems like an easy enough mission."

 _"Easy... enough... mission?!"_ She thought in shock. Her fists clenched.

 _"OH HELL NO, you are not gonna take that!"_ Inner Sakura shouted, punching her fist into her open palm. _"SHANNARO! Let's beat this punk and save Sasuke-kun!"_

She grit her teeth, dodging to the side as the man threw the knife at her. It stuck into the tree just above Naruto's head, and she yanked it out and considered for a moment.

"Oh no, the little girl has a knife!" The shinobi was laughing. "Too bad for you, sweetheart, that's not my only one!"

He pulled out a second and third from his pack and threw them at her. She hardly had enough time to dodge this time, gasping sharply as one of them sailed past her ear, nicking it and yanking a couple of strands of hair with it. She immediately cupped the cut with her hand.

 _"Oh he is gonna PAY!"_ Inner roared, smacking her hands (covered with boxing gloves) together. _"No one touches the hair! ... except for Sasuke-kun."_

She narrowed her eyes at him. He wasn't doing much in the way of attacking. If she could just get him to use a jutsu, then maybe she could gauge his abilities.

As if he knew what she was thinking, he threw the hand signs for a fire jutsu. As he blew a long tongue of fire at her, she ran to the side, crying out in pain as her leg was burnt. Through watery eyes, she created three clones and scattered them in the four directions, all running at the shinobi at the same time.

"Kage bunshin, eh?" He chuckled to himself, flicking a knife up in the air. "That's too easy."

He whirled around, throwing shuriken at each of the Sakuras. One by one they dispersed, until the real one dodged the weapon and jumped at him, striking him across the face with his own knife.

He grunted in pain, wincing back as blood began to bubble to the surface of the diagonal slash.

She jumped away as he lifted a thumb to swipe at the wound. When he pulled it away, his face darkened when he realized the entire pad of his thumb was soaked in blood. It made her feel a little queasy.

"You little bitch," he spat. "No more playing games! I was told to be nice, but screw that!"

 _"Eh? Told to be nice? What does that mean?"_ Sakura's mind was whirling as he blew another fireball at her. She hid behind a tree, sucking in a breath. _"Was this... planned?! But who? Who would do this?"_

"I can sense you!" The man shouted, and when she peeked around she saw a bright orange flame coming right for her. She gasped and ran from the tree, watching in terror as it burst into flames.

 _"Shit! At this point he's gonna burn the entire forest down..."_ she gulped. _"... with us inside!"_

 _"He's gonna kill the boys!"_ Inner shouted. _"Well we aren't letting Sasuke-kun or Naruto die today!"_

She waited for him to charge at her before she jumped out of the way, throwing it back using all of her remaining strength before collapsing on her burnt leg with a gasp.

Little did she know, Sasuke was awakening, and just as he opened his eyes to stare groggily at the face of the nin before him, the shinobi was struck in the back of the neck with the knife, causing him to choke out a yell and fall to the ground. The boy's breath hitched dangerously, his eyes going wide at the fallen enemy, twitching on the ground in agony.

_"N-- no way...!"_

Sakura landed a few feet away, panting hard. Her eyes widened when she realized that Sasuke was staring at her in shock, his eyes bleeding to crimson. "Urgh-- Sasuke-kun! You're awake!"

"What happened?" He croaked. He struggled to move, glaring in panic down at his body. "And why am I paralyzed?! This isn't a genjutsu..."

"I think it was the darts," she explained, rushing over to him. She kicked the bleeding shinobi out of the way and knelt before him, leaning him forward so that she could inspect the little red dot where the dart had gone in. She wiped the bead of blood away with her thumb and inspected the mark. "They must've been infused with a paralyzing substance."

She leaned him back against the tree and bit her lip as he groaned in pain. "I'm so sorry I couldn't do anything! I would've if Kotone hadn't--"

"Sakura."

At the sound of his voice, she looked up, teary-eyed.

His eyes softened a fraction, and he sighed before closing them. "It wasn't your fault. None of us realized we were being ambushed until it was too late. Stop crying over me."

She swallowed harshly, nodding her head jerkily before wiping her tears away. "I-- I'm sorry..."

Just then, Kakashi burst back onto the scene, eyes wide with panic. "I took care of the other shinobi. What happened? Are you hurt?"

"M-- my leg got burnt by his fire ninjutsu," she explained, pointing out the stripe of darker, reddened skin on her leg. It was as big as her hand and stretched across her calf all the way to the singed edge of her biker shorts.

"Heal it," Sasuke demanded, and when she looked up, he was uncharacteristically tense. His eyes were narrowed, the Sharingan glowing in what looked like panic. "Before _anything_ , heal it."

"Yes, definitely," Kakashi was quick to agree. He looked up at the burning trunk of the tree and sighed heavily. "Dammit..."

Conjuring up a water jutsu, he put out the fire and went to Sakura's side, observing as she read through the notebook for how to treat burns. Carefully, she began healing the burn, and both of them watched in fascination as the affected flesh was carefully cut away and replaced with unaffected skin.

Sakura's brow perspired with the effort. Although she was well on her way to becoming an expert, her chakra reserves were still rather low. "I need... t-- to get stronger..." she mumbled under her breath through grit teeth. "I-- I c-- can't--"

"Sakura," Kakashi's voice was gentle as he put a firm hand on her shoulder. When she looked up through watery, exhausted eyes, he shook his head. "That's enough. I can take it from here."

She nodded dizzily and fell against Sasuke's shoulder, eyes fluttering shut. Her world went dark as she felt a gloved hand gently take her ankle and lift it off the ground.

_"I... I can't... let Sasuke-kun... or Naruto... die..."_

* * *

When she awoke again, she was bobbing up and down on something. She heard the chirping of birds in the trees and a quiet breeze fluttering the ends of her hair. She could smell a faint, smoky scent, like cologne, and she buried her nose deeper into whatever she was laying against, only to feel something akin to a soft paintbrush against her face. She could hear Kakashi's low voice, as well as Naruto's worried tones, although they felt far away.

Dazedly, her eyes cracked open. She looked around, noticing that they had started moving again. Something navy-blue entered her vision, and when she looked down, she noticed a familiar wide-collared shirt and a slender, pale neck framed with black cowlicked hair.

Her eyes widened a fraction, still too tired to react. _"Sasuke-kun... is carrying me? Why...?"_

 _"Too tired to think..."_ Inner grumbled, burying her head in her arms. _"Maybe... he does care about us?"_

Sakura took a moment to think about it. Kotone's words may have held a shred of truth to them, after all. She had noticed that she was able to read some of Sasuke's emotions through his eyes; and he seemed to know her moods well enough at this point to realize when she was depressed. He always seemed to look out for her a little more whenever she was having a worse day than usual, and for that, she felt a tinge of warmth in her heart.

He and Naruto were a pair all on their own; even if he didn't want to admit it, she could tell that Naruto really craved his friendship, and Sasuke most likely felt the same. The two, although self-proclaimed 'rivals' by Naruto, had grown to become quite close. Still, though, the two seemed to relax a little more whenever she was there after a particularly-rough sparring match. Naruto, of course, was still crushing on her, but Sasuke seemed to take her companionship with a silent approval. It was almost like he wanted her there.

That alone made her lips curl into a tiny smile as she hid her face deeper into his shoulder.

She had grown to really care for these two in the past month or so that they'd been a team. She'd always crushed on Sasuke, but after that mission to Wave, it had really given her a reality check on both of them. Naruto was no longer this endless annoyance that always asked her out for ramen, and Sasuke was no longer this cool guy on a pedestal. They were human, and they were her friends. They all cared about each other.

Perhaps... perhaps they were connected by camaraderie. Perhaps they were linked by love. Perhaps Kotone wasn't totally lying after all.

_"Sasuke-kun... Naruto... thank you..."_

Her eyes closed, and she fell asleep once more, this time with the comforting hum of Sasuke's chakra as a lullaby.

* * *

At their campfire that night, Sasuke and Naruto stayed closer to her than usual (although the blond claimed that 'I won't let some stupid ninja poison me again when it comes to rescuing Sakura-chan! 'ttebayo!'), and even Kakashi-sensei seemed more on edge. He seemed more reticent to leave than usual, but he carried about his guard duties for the first half of the night as Sakura changed her bandages.

Her first wound was healing nicely; as of now, it was a scab on her arm. She didn't even need to wrap it anymore, but she still wanted to, just in case.

After that day's events, all she wanted was to take a quick dip in the lake nearby. Naruto and Sasuke were reluctant to let her go alone ("What if those ninjas come back?!" Naruto had cried. "You could get kidnapped or worse!"), but after a lengthy discussion -- plus a promise that if she wasn't back in an hour, then they could go check on her -- she took her stuff and went to the nearest body of water that Kakashi had scouted out.

As soon as she neared the lake, she noticed something was off. She looked around, searching for chakra signatures, before she noticed a blip in the trees just to her left.

"Akatsuki-san?" She called softly, not wanting to alert the boys. "Are you here?"

There was a pause.

Then, slowly, from the treeline, Itachi appeared, cloak-less this time. He wore a plain black shirt with mesh and some casual traveling pants with black sandals. His whole demeanor was calm as can be, although she could detect hints of concern when she looked into his face.

"You are hurt, Haruno?" He asked as she walked up to him.

"Only a small burn," she admitted with a shrug and a sheepish smile. "I was able to heal it pretty well, but it still needs a few days."

His eyes bled to crimson, and this time, she didn't look away. He scanned her person before his gaze lingered on her leg. For a few moments, he stared at the bandages, before he nodded and his eyes faded away again.

"You've sustained other injuries," he stated plainly as she rested against a tree. "Not physical, but rather mental."

She blinked for a few moments. Slowly, she nodded. "I guess, yeah. It was really scary having both Sasuke-kun and Naruto out of commission and having to fight someone by myself."

"You fought off a rogue nin all by yourself?" He seemed vaguely concerned, although there was a hint of pride in his voice.

"Yeah, that's where I got the burn." She gestured to her leg and shuddered. "I should've known we were going to be ambushed today. Kakashi-sensei said that he fought off three of them. I mean, he probably beat them easy, but..."

"When your attention is divided, all the more greater are your chances of losing," he reminded patiently. "Not even your sensei is infallible."

"I know," she shrugged her shoulders loosely again. "I guess I just... I really hate that I had to wipe out like that today. I bet I looked like a wimp..."

Itachi looked down at the exhausted kunoichi, noting the way she almost invisibly swayed on her feet. Her eyes, downcast, had dark bags underneath, as if she wasn't sleeping properly. Her skin was paler than usual, and although she'd most likely slept on the way, it didn't seem to help her much.

She sighed heavily, her torso shaking with the effort. "I'm always the one who has to pull them back with me... I'm not much good as a medic, 'cause I have such low chakra levels."

He listened as she unloaded her burdens with an eye on the water. The girl was suffering, that much was true, and yet something felt different, just a little bit, from the last time they'd met.

She didn't seem to focus so deeply on Naruto and Sasuke dismissing her, almost as if something had happened to change that deep-seated opinion. Perhaps she'd finally realized it during the fight, or perhaps directly after. He wasn't about to seek out his old comrade for answers, but he could guess just by looking into her eyes with the Sharingan. He could see faint memories of warmth and safety, along with his otouto's hair covering one of her eyes.

His lips curled into a near-invisible smile. So she was starting to get it.

"--and then Kakashi-sensei said that Kotone was really just in a shady contract with those shinobi, and as long as they didn't harm her they were allowed to fight us," she finally finished with a sigh. "So... y'know, I guess it makes sense as to why he was told to 'go easy' on me."

The dissatisfaction in her frown made him nod. "And this has frustrated you?"

"The one time I fight someone by myself, they have to go easy on me," she added, looking up at him with troubled eyes. "Just once, I want to take someone down like Naruto and Sasuke-kun do. They never have to worry about their opponents limiting themselves; so why me? Why am I always the one who has to be babied? Am I really that useless?"

She sank to her knees against the tree, her eyes brimming with tears. "I'm pathetic, I know... but... but I'm trying...!"

He stood beside her as the tears began to roll down her cheeks. "Naruto and Sasuke-kun, they both have these amazing powers! Naruto has a demon, and Sasuke-kun... Sasuke-kun is a prodigy from a clan! What do I have? I'm just from a regular family with almost no ninja background. My only strength is that I can memorize things and I can walk up trees and on running water!"

She hid her face in her knees, mumbling, "S-- sorry... I didn't mean to complain so much..."

 _"It does feel good to get it off our chest, though,"_ Inner commented with a full-body sigh. _"Even if he can't understand us."_

Itachi pondered for a moment. True, she was average in everything but intelligence and chakra only, but she still loathed herself enough that even that was useless. She had the same attitude as his otouto; "Nobody can understand me, because I'm too different." It was this kind of self-destructive thinking that he feared would be her undoing someday, as it would Sasuke's.

Finally, he let out a breath and, hesitantly, reached out to touch her head. The cold metal of her hitai-ate seeped into his hands for a moment before he let go, watching as she looked up with a trembling mouth.

"Haruno, you are average," he bluntly said, ignoring the way she winced back. "But that's just it: you have an advantage over my otouto and the Kyuubi."

"What good will being average do me?" She asked, wiping her eyes with a frown.

"For someone so intelligent, it is difficult to get you to see the truth," he commented with a sigh. "Your greatest weakness can also be your greatest strength. You have what they don't: a normal upbringing. You've had to push yourself to get the results you desire. Think about it: how did you end up being in the top 10 of your graduating class?"

Her frown deepened, and she looked down at the ground. "I... I studied my ass off." Then, a hastily-added, "Sorry."

"If my Achilles' heel was coarse language, I think I'd have locked myself in a room by now," he dryly answered. "You have had to work for everything you have. What about your abilities in chakra control? How have you developed those?"

"I... I studied about the effects on your chakra on your body," she said, her expression slowly brightening as she finally understood. "And I adjusted myself according to what I studied!"

"And what of your ability to see through genjutsu?" He challenged. "Not just any civilian shinobi can manage that. Not just any _shinobi_ point blank, either."

"I... I..." She brightened, then slumped over. "I don't know, it just... doesn't work on me?"

"But _how_?" He pushed.

"Because I..." She scrunched up her nose. "Because I studied how genjutsu affects a person's chakra and trained myself to push back against it?"

"Exactly," he nodded. "Your greatest strength is not only your control, but also your brain."

She flinched, her eyes widening in realization. _"That's why I'm able to predict Naruto's and Sasuke-kun's movements in sparring matches... that's why medical ninjutsu is so easy for me... it's not because I'm average, it's because...!"_

She looked up with a big, beaming smile. "Thank you so much, Uchiha-san. I think I feel more confident about my abilities now."

"If you do not give yourself credit where it's due, you will squander what abilities you already have," he replied, turning away so that his faint smile was hidden. "It's very important that you understand where your strengths and weaknesses truly lie, otherwise you will either underestimate yourself or grow too cocky, resulting in failure."

She swallowed hard and nodded. "R-- right!"

Then she suddenly remembered her promise to the boys and gasped sharply. "Oh no, how long has it been since I left camp? I promised Sasuke-kun and Naruto that if I wasn't back in an hour, that they could come and check on me!"

"I have been here for about twenty minutes," he offered. "You arrived shortly after I have. You still have time."

"Oh, thank Kami-sama," she exhaled, slumping against the tree. "Sorry, it probably sounded rude. I just didn't want Naruto, o-- or Sasuke-kun to..."

"I would not want that either," he mused, looking up at the setting sun. "I'm afraid it is... far too soon to see Sasuke again."

She went quiet as she looked up at the older man. There was a troubled air about him, although it didn't quite feel like the trepidation of someone anxious to meet an enemy again. It felt more like... a sorrowful man unwilling to cause his loved one pain again.

She averted her eyes and asked quietly, "You don't really want him to hate you... do you?"

He turned his head a fraction, but didn't speak a word.

She smiled sadly down at her knees. "I'll never understand what that's like... not wanting your sibling to hate you for something you did. But... it doesn't feel unlike hurting a close friend, does it? People always say that the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb, but sometimes the bond between family is just as strong, if not stronger."

Shisui's face with his casual, sunny smile flickered through his memories, and he turned away again.

"I've always felt bad that I ended my friendship with Ino just because we liked the same person," she said softly, almost ashamed to admit it. "Ino... she taught me everything. I was bullied a lot as a kid, and she was the first one to show me kindness. She gave me my confidence back, she helped me learn to love myself, and... she was a really great friend."

"But all of it changed when I told her that I liked someone," she continued with a sigh. "From that day on, everything was awkward between us. And then when I told her that we couldn't be best friends if we were gonna compete for Sasuke-kun's love..."

She trailed off, growing silent for a few moments before she laughed awkwardly. "Well, I guess I don't have that comfort anymore."

"S-- so, I kinda get it," she finished, looking up at the stock-still teenager. "When you hurt someone like that, you just wanna disappear. You don't want to burden them with the memories of what you once had, but at the same time, you desperately want them to forgive you and tell you they still care about you."

This girl...

He thought about it for a few seconds before activating the Sharingan, turning his eyes upon hers. For a split-second, her peridot-green eyes widened before she slumped against the tree, unconscious.

Once he was sure she was asleep, his eyes faded back to black and he stooped beside her, brushing away a strand of hair that had landed in her parted lips.

He hesitated.

"Sakura Haruno," he spoke softly, standing back up again, "... thank you."

In the next moment, he disappeared, and the evening breeze tousled her hair, the quiet rippling water the only ambiance left.


	6. Even in Dreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No physical Itachi appearance.
> 
> (Note because I know at least someone will take it the wrong way: The "take advantage of me" line is not sexual.)

Sakura awoke fifteen minutes later, confused and hurt when she realized that he was gone. She washed quickly, mindful of her burn and bandages, and left back to camp, just as Naruto was starting up the path, calling out "We were just gonna come looking for you, Sakura-chan!"

She tried her best to avoid their questions as to why it had taken her so long to wash, giving a false smile to Sasuke when he glanced over to her, questioningly.

Kakashi had been mildly worried as well, having thought that she'd expended too much energy at the river. When he gave her a check-over and declared her just fine, she went back to her sleeping bag and lay down with her back away from the group to hide her conflicted tears.

 _"And just when I thought we were getting somewhere,"_ she silently mourned, _"he knocks me out and leaves. What kind of a person does that?"_

 _"An untrustworthy monster, that's who,"_ Inner declared with a 'humph'. _"Why did we even trust him again? Just 'cause he didn't kill us on sight?"_

 _"I thought that maybe he could help me with Sasuke-kun,"_ Sakura sighed. _"But when he told me that I had potential as a kunoichi... was it the same as when Kotone told me that Sasuke-kun and I were connected? Was he just lying?"_

 _"Hell to the N-O, girl!"_ Inner snapped, grabbing a dummy labeled "Sakura" and smacking it across the face. _"Pull! Yourself! Together! Even Kakashi-sensei says that we've got the best chakra control on the team, if not in the class! We're freakin' smart, too! We've got plenty potential even without missing-nin telling us about it! We're awesome!"_

Sakura merely shook her head, burying her face further into her pillow. She could hear Naruto's voice above the crackling fire, but she ignored it until she heard someone kneel beside her and she felt a gentle hand atop her head.

She looked up to see Kakashi looking down at her with a worried face.

"Sakura, are you okay?" He asked quietly. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head, giving him a plastic smile. "I'm fine, Kakashi-sensei, I'm just... tired."

"I may be an old, lazy man, but even I've had experience with girls. You and I both know you're not just tired," he chastised gently. "Did one of the boys say something?"

"No," she replied, wiping her eye with her fist. "I just... I'm just..."

Kakashi remained quiet as she stammered, his eyes never leaving her.

"... I'm just... drained," she finished lamely, looking away with shame. "From the fight."

He nodded, a minute movement of his head. "Do you want to talk about it?"

 _Yes,_ she wanted to say, _please tell me I'm not wasting my time,_ but she held back. Kakashi never really paid much mind to her unless she was either injured or kidnapped, and even then his priority was either defeating the enemy nin or making sure Naruto or Sasuke didn't mortally injure themselves in the process. She was the tagalong, just the target practice for the unsavory types. _Obligatory girl,_ her mind whispered to her. And she hated it.

Finally, she shook her head again. "No."

"... Alright," he quietly said, standing back up. "Sleep well."

 _"Always so quick to give up on us,"_ Inner sneered, turning away as Sakura buried her face into her pillow again. _"If he didn't care about Sasuke-kun or Naruto I'd have half a mind to beat him up!"_

Sakura didn't have the energy to agree, merely closing her eyes and letting the built-up tears slip off her cheek and dampen her pillow.

She felt Inner slip her arms around her head, though she felt no warmth from the being in her subconscious.

She fell asleep quickly, her face hidden in her arm, the other tucked underneath the pillow.

* * *

Sakura stood in a field in the middle of the rain with no umbrella.

She looked around with a frown. "What am I doing here? Why is it raining?"

She wandered about, trying to find a tree for shelter.

"Why you chose this landscape, I'll never know," Inner commented, walking beside her with a bored expression. "Why not something better, like a clear summer day? Or better yet, in a house?"

"You think I can control what I dream about?" Sakura snapped back with a frown.

"I never said _you_ did," Inner shot back.

"Haruno."

Both turned to see Itachi standing several feet away in his cloak, perfectly dry despite the rain.

"Y-- you!" Sakura choked, pointing at him. "What are you doing here? Why did you leave me like that?!"

Inner rose her eyebrows at the man, but said nothing.

"I trusted you, y'know!" Sakura yelled, balling her hands into fists. "I've grown up with stories about the Sharingan, about how scary it is. You can literally screw with someone's mind and they can't stop it! Even Sasuke-kun isn't the same person when he activates his! And you took advantage of my trust in you and you knocked me out with it?!"

Itachi said nothing more, just staring at her.

"Why is it that every adult treats me like I'm stupid?!" She continued, her eyes welling up with tears. "First Kotone, and now you? At least Kotone betrayed me to my _face_ , but you?! I thought-- I thought--"

She began hiccuping, falling to her knees on the wet grass.

"I-- I thought you were different," she blubbered, slumping over. "You told me I had potential! Well Kotone told me I'm connected to Sasuke-kun, and she called in a hit on me! How am I supposed to trust what you say if you take advantage of me and leave me in the middle of the woods?"

"Sakura," Inner quietly said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Sakura shrugged it off and continued to shout. "Maybe Kakashi-sensei was right. Maybe my brain is the only exceptional thing about me. Maybe I'm just wasting my time pulling Sasuke-kun and Naruto back! If you thought so too, why didn't you tell me? Why did you give me all of that advice just to stroke my ego?"

"Sakura, c'mon," Inner urged, planting a hand on her shoulder and giving it a shake.

"Don't get my hopes up for nothing!" She yelled, glaring at him despite the moisture in her eyes. "Don't lie to me to make me feel better! I already hated myself enough; you don't have to add to the list of reasons why!"

"Sakura, wake up!" Inner no longer spoke with her voice, but a boyish one. She shook the girl vigorously.

Sakura sobbed, looking up only to startle back when she realized that Itachi was a foot away. His face was set impassively, the Sharingan whirling in his eyes, and he reached forward--

\--only for Sakura's eyes to shoot open with a gasp of fright, staring up into Sasuke's.

* * *

The two of them stared at each other in surprise for a few seconds before his hand flinched away as if she'd burned him. His new Sharingan glowed down at her, and she clenched her eyes shut and she turned her head away.

"D-- don't scare me like that, Sasuke-kun," she murmured shakily, opening her eyes and looking back at him. To her relief, the red glow was gone.

He nodded his head, mumbling an almost-silent " _'_ m sorry" before going back to his bag a few feet away. He sat down on the fabric and stared off into the trees.

It was totally dark. How long had she slept?

She blinked, looking around the camp. Naruto was probably on watch, as his bag was empty. Kakashi-sensei was sitting with his back against a tree and his hands folded across his chest, probably deep in sleep.

The Sharingan brushed across her memories for a second and she flinched before letting out a deep sigh, rolling over and burying her head in her pillow again. She could feel the tears coming back, and she didn't have the heart to wipe them away as they seeped into her pillow. She refused to let Sasuke-kun of all people know she was crying, save for the tremor in her back.

She clenched her eyes shut, feeling Sasuke gaze her way. Hopefully sleep would come quickly again. If she was keeping watch tonight, she'd need all of the strength she could get.

...

...

...

Just as she felt like she was drifting off, she was brought back to awareness by Naruto shaking her shoulder with a stage-whisper of "Sakura-chan?"

She looked up into his face, set with worry as he took in the state of hers. He smiled sympathetically, patting her shoulder. "Nightmares?"

She shook her head wordlessly. "What's up? Do we have to leave?"

"No, but Kakashi-sensei said to wake you up for your shift." He pointed his thumb back at where their sensei had been resting. The man wasn't anywhere in sight, probably taking the time to scout around again.

She mulled it over for a second. She felt like she could get through a two-hour shift. She looked over at Sasuke's sleeping bag, only to see him lying in a ball, hopefully asleep.

She nodded, giving the blond a tiny smile. "Thanks, Naruto. Go get some sleep."

He lit up at this, grinning down at her. "You got it, Sakura-chan!" He saluted her before going to plop down into his sleeping bag.

She watched him as he shifted around to get comfortable for a few seconds before getting up, already mourning the loss of heat. The early-morning air pricked lightly at her skin and she exhaled, rubbing her arms to warm them up.

She picked a spot in a tree that overlooked their campsite as well as the surrounding area and settled in, leaning against the trunk and swinging her legs absentmindedly.

Her sleep had thankfully been dreamless this time. Most of the hurt from earlier in the day was gone, and in the quiet of the early morning she could reflect on the situation without being clogged with emotion.

 _"Haaaah..."_ Inner huffed, folding her arms. _"Dammit, we overreacted."_

 _"I did,"_ Sakura agreed sullenly. _"I shouldn't have put so much trust in him. I guess I just thought... because he was Sasuke-kun's brother..."_

 _"He's still rogue,"_ Inner added. _"I'm surprised he lasted this long without knockin' us out. I mean, who does that? Who just leaves a girl unconscious there like that? Someone not worth our time, that's who!"_

 _"I've still got a long way to go before we can even dream of being on Sasuke-kun's or Naruto's level."_ She hummed, grasping her chin and narrowing her eyes. _"Maybe I can ask Kurenai-sensei for some help with genjutsu. I think I remember Mom saying that she was a genjutsu specialist too, but she never got past genin rank."_

 _"At least the chakra runs in the family, along with our iconic hair,"_ Inner laughed, flipping her own waist-length locks.

"Sakura?" Kakashi-sensei's voice broke her out of her thoughts, and when she looked over, she saw him at the end of the branch, book nowhere in sight.

 _"Surprising that he isn't reading that trash for once,"_ Inner hummed.

Sakura silently agreed. She smiled at her teacher. "I figured I'd get my shift over with," she explained.

"Are you doing better?"

"Hai, Sensei." She nodded.

He crouched next to her, watching the area with her. The boys were still fast asleep, and Naruto's snoring was still audible even high in the treetop. The fire was burning weakly now, small wisps of smoke raising its fingers to the navy sky. The stars glittered overhead, beginning to lose some of their luster as the night began its gradual fade.

With Kakashi so close, she felt the guilt from earlier begin to eat away again. All protocol dictated that she tell her teacher about the clandestine meetings with Itachi, and yet she didn't want to snuff out the faint ember of hope that still remained of seeing him again. The man was kind, even when leaving her unconscious in a forest. She felt a pull to him that she couldn't explain, and it wasn't just because he was Sasuke's brother.  
  


_"I really should tell him..."_

_"If you do,"_ Inner warned, _"you'll probably never see that man again."_  
  


She silently swallowed.

"Kakashi-sensei," she called softly.

"I knew," he replied without missing a beat, visible eye glancing over at her with an unreadable expression.

_Beat._

"... oh," she meekly answered, her heart sinking. "Okay."

"I first realized when we were ambushed on the mission to the daimyo," he continued. "I felt his presence before and afterwards, when you went to bathe. I wanted to brush it off as a coincidence."

She nodded, silent.

"But then I felt it again when you went off to bathe after the ambush with Midori-san." He explained. "I was wary, of course, but when you came back, I could detect no injuries or lasting effects of the Tsukuyomi."

"He never hurt me," she agreed. "We just... talked, I guess."

"You talked." His voice was a bit flat.

She shrank away and looked down. "Y-- yeah, really. He gave me good advice."

There came a weary sigh, and she looked up upon feeling his hand upon her shoulder. His visible eye was full of concern, and it made her heart sink further, though not in panic, but in shame.

"As your teacher, I have to worry about you," he explained as gently as he could. "You're only thirteen, and a genin at that. Uchiha Itachi is older and stronger than all three of you combined. Even than me, I must admit. He's a master in his field despite his youthfulness. You must understand that I have to worry about one of my genin going off to speak with an adult criminal."

Sakura swallowed her rising anger and nodded. Only thirteen. She didn't remember a time when he'd spoken of Sasuke or Naruto that way. He never brought up their age nor rank when talking about their abilities. Only _her_.

 _"To be fair,"_ Inner hummed with a shrug, _"Neither of them have been traipsing through the forest with handsome Akatsuki, either."_

She hated even more that the girl was right.

"I know," she whispered. She could feel the tears rising, but she tried to fight them off as best she could. _I will not cry._ "I'm sorry."

There was a pause between them. She felt the lump growing in her throat, and she mentally cursed. If he didn't leave soon, she'd be crying in front of him. Like a baby. A dumb, useless baby.

 _"Shinobi don't cry,"_ she chanted to herself, clenching her fists in her lap. _"Only babies cry. I'm not a baby. I'm a genin. I will not cry."_

Kakashi's hand disappeared from her shoulder, and he turned away. "Please understand that it's too dangerous for you to be meeting with anyone outside of the gates, enemy or not. If anything happened to you, that's on me."

She nodded mutely, not trusting her voice. The jealousy burned louder in her chest, but she kept silent. _"I shouldn't take it out on him. Kakashi-sensei is just trying to help."_

She clenched her eyes shut and sniffled quietly. When she opened them again, watery, Kakashi was gone.

She felt a trail of liquid run down her hot face, and she didn't bother to wipe it away, even when the air made her shiver.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Personal headcanon that Sakura also gets her talent for genjutsu from her mother (and her chakra control plus hair color from her father as a sort of very, VERY small clan thing. As in, the family is super common, but the chakra control is rarer and usually leads to medic-nin in the family). Come on, Kishimoto! Develop Sakura's parents past 'ex-genin civilians'! The potential is there!
> 
> Also, just another reminder that I'm writing this with mostly Sakura's POV in mind. There's a reason for the 'unreliable narrator' tag, and it's not because I like bamboozling you.


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